Frost Beard on Spruce (deadwood)

thanks Harsha and Sergio

Thanks...never knew the cause of it before, too - Noah made me looking closer to it .. :)

ID'd - thanks a lot to Clive

Thanks a lot, Clive! That's it. In this case, the phenomenon is called "Ice Beard" - but it's actually a condition that is caused by the plant it appears on. Here on (fresh) deadwood it is a so powerful capillary action, even able to strip the bark of the deadwood in order to extract to the outside. What leads to the conclusion: The species is a Spruce deadwood in the condition of "Ice bearded". Thanks alot for any help and idea on this one.

:) yea...wow and odd

No, Malcolm...that's the funny thing...we only had +-0°C today...and the frost has been only outside of the warmer inner of the woods - these have been the only frosty encounters within the inner.

it might be a simple Aspergillus with it's fine needles...I had touched it...but with it it simply melted away...can't tell if there was something on the bark itself - i only touched the "fur"

Real good question, arlanda...I have really no specific idea...but it's obvious that it is somehow caused in combination with a mold, since I found these over and over today in the woods - all on deadwood.

indeed, arlanda...on today's walk I just went: "oh, wow...what the..."