I found this exotic looking fungal growth on an Eastern Red Cedar (Juniper) near some old crabapple trees. Apparently it needs both juniper and apple trees in order to survive and once it reaches the stage shown here will infect apple trees within several miles but most severly within a couple of hundred feet of the juniper.
The photo shows this specimen at the height of its maturity, the potato-like growth called a gall being covered with bright orange telial horns swollen by a wet spring rain. Once the horns release their cargo of basidiospores to the air, they will dry up and fall off. The gall will die at this point but remain on the juniper for a year or more.
info source: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/focus/cedarapplerust.html
Asside form my interest in the fungal growth itself (very interesting!) this is a very good shot. I like the color contrast. The background looks a little grainy, and the DOF is a bit shallow for all the horns, but you sure caught it well otherwise.
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