@Truaxe sure, here on a dark background

@bug reminds me a bit of something in Oblivion.

@Sal hair size, ascus length and spore size/ornamentation mostly

@Sal

To venture a guess (or another way of thinking about it): Maybe it evolved from a fungi which infected a lot more different plant species before. But this combination proved to be the survivable strategy since all the other plant species died out or developed defences… I think it is easier to think about “how did it survive” than “what is the advantage”. Unfortunately there is only very very little fossil record of fungi, so it might stay a secret how it became what it is today 😃

@musicmind333 @mycology
Didn’t know them either before this May, but got quickly invested in finding hawthorn around. Took me a while to find some, but now I am fevering towards hawthorn fruiting season to see the other stage of the life cycle 😅