I've found a very weird plant - or most likely it is a fungus - just besides a nice specimen of Colchicum autumnale (autumn crocus); see below, that round ball, strangely enough with English letters on it:
The letters say MD RANGE of which I can't make head nor tail (googling only reveals technical links where MD is supposed to be multi-directional); also I don't see how a fungus could have evolved to produce letters on its sporocarp but it might just be that the fungus with this wants to attract humans and motivate them to carry their spores for long distances.
However, obviously at least the last five letters are English so this fungus certainly is not native to Austria. (Which is why I removed it from this natural habitat; which might have been the intention of this fungus in the first place when I'm thinking about it - I've got that sporocarp with me now, in my flat in Vienna, and probably I've already shed spores everywhere ...) Probably it is a parasite, or symbiont, of Colchicum autumnale but for now there's no way to be sure.
I will use for this one the preliminary Latin name of Lycoperdoniellus colchicale as it should be related to the puffball genus (Lycoperdon), and as a connection to Colchicum is at least not unlikely. I'll let you know if I find out more about it.
