Star jelly

image of white translucent jelly sitting on a small clump of moss
An instance of unidentified star jelly on Grimmia pulvinata, a species of moss.

Star jelly (also called astromyxin, astral jelly) is a gelatinous substance sometimes found on grass and less commonly on the branches of trees.[1] According to folklore, it is deposited on the Earth during meteor showers. It is described as a translucent or grayish-white gelatin that tends to evaporate shortly after having "fallen". Explanations have ranged from it being the remains of frogs, toads, or worms, to the byproducts of cyanobacteria, to being the fruiting bodies of jelly fungi or masses of amoeba called slime molds.[2][3][4][5] Nonbiological origins proposed for instances of "star jelly" have included byproducts from industrial production or waste management. Reports of the substance date back to the 14th century and have continued to the present.[5][6]

  1. ^ Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1848). Tales about the sun, moon, and stars. p. 259. A gelatinous substance is occasionally found on the grass, dirt, and even sometimes on the branches of trees, the origin of which the modern learned do not ascribe either to stars or to meteors; but which they are divided as to regarding either as an animal or vegetable production. The botanists name it tremella nostoch and say that it is a fungous plant, quick of growth, and of short duration, but of which even the seed has been discovered ; but the animalists, though differing from each other in subordinate respects, agree in affirming it to be the altered remains of dead frogs. "The quantity of jelly," says one of these, "produced from one single frog, is almost beyond belief; even to five or six times its bulk when in a natural state;" that is, when the frog is in a living state ...
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference nature was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Natural History of the Toad". Philosophical Magazine. 64: 90. 1824. doi:10.1080/14786442408644561. Retrieved 17 February 2010. The substance known by the name of star-jelly or star-shot (Tremella Nostoc), found on marshy ground, is the decomposed bodies of toads or frogs, but more particularly the latter, the writer having frequently found the exuviae of the reptile connected with it, and he has also seen the lacerated body of a frog lying on the margin of a lake one day, and the next seen it converted into this substance, the atmosphere at the time being very humid and the weather wet, which appear to be necessary adjuncts to the formation of star-jelly. It may be objected that this substance is sometimes found in places inaccessible to frogs and toads, as the tops of thatched barns, hay-ricks. This is easily accounted for; these reptiles are the food of various birds of prey, and by them carried to those situations to be devoured at their leisure; and if scared in the act, the lacerated 'toad ,frog or laini has left behind, and if the state of the weather and air is favourable to this mode of decomposition, star-jelly is formed. If the weather is hot and dry, they are converted into a hard leathery substance. Frogs in particular are rarely decomposed by the usual process of animal putrefaction.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference timesonline was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference stella was invoked but never defined (see the help page).