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Honeydew on beech tree
St Arnaud: Honeydew on beech tree
The white hair-like things are actually the anal tubes of small scale insects, Ultracoelostoma assimile, that are buried in the bark, busily sucking sap. The sap they cannot handle comes out as sugar-rich honeydew, a droplet of which can be seen, and which is an important food source for many native birds and insects.

December 2001