Gymnosporangium

Gymnosporangium is a genus of heteroecious plant-pathogenic fungi which alternately infect members of the family Cupressaceae, primarily species in the genus Juniperus (junipers), and members of the family Rosaceae in the subfamily Amygdaloideae (apples, pears, quinces, shadbush, hawthorns, rowans and their relatives). The common name cedar-apple rusts has been used for these fungi. According to the Dictionary of the Fungi (10th edition, 2008), there were 57 species in the genus. In 2023, Species Fungorum lists up to 74 species. In junipers (the primary hosts, see photo), some species form a ball-like gall about 2–4 cm in diameter which produces a set of orange tentacle-like spore tubes called telial horns. These horns expand and have a jelly like consistency when wet. In other species, such as in G. clarvariforme, the telia are produced directly from the bark of the juniper with no obvious gall formation or swelling. The basidiospores are released and travel on the wind until they inf......read more on Wikipedia.