A post about a peculiar green, bumpy ball spotted on a trail by a hiker has gone viral on Reddit.
An image of the bizarre finding was shared in a post by u/Bruh61502, which has amassed over 17,000 upvotes since it was uploaded onto the r/whatisit subreddit on April 22.
The post was titled: “I found this thing walking along a trail. WTF [what the f***] is this?? I was scared to touch it.” The image shows a lime-colored, brain-like object nestled among leaves.
Food scientist Bryan Quoc Le is the author of 150 Food Science Questions Answered: Cook Smarter, Cook Better and founder of Mendocino Food Consulting. He told Newsweek that the mystery object in the Reddit post is the fruit of the Osage orange tree.
The Osage orange, whose scientific name is Maclura pomifera, is a deciduous tree native to the southern United States. Though not typically consumed due to …