Did you know “Wi-Fi” doesn’t actually stand for anything? 

Yup ― while some claim the term is short for “wireless fidelity”, Phil Belanger, a founding member of the Wi-Fi Alliance who led its name selection, said: “Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything. It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.” Huh!

Facts like that make me realise just how much of the world I ignorantly accept. And a Reddit post shared to r/AskUK pointed out another such case to me ― what are those black clumps that we so often see in tree branches?

“Are they natural? Did aliens put them in? Did the tree get a bad haircut? So many questions…so few answers,” u/Slightlyvapid_johnny wrote. 

So... what are they?

A top-voted comment suggested they were “bird nests,” which I believed when I was younger.

But another Redditor said that the clumps of confusion were actually “mistletoe”.

Indeed the spherical puffs do seem to more closely resemble mistletoe growth.

It turns out the festive plant is actually a parasite, which The Tree Council says “grows in green clumps on various trees across the UK” and is “especially noticeable in winter once trees have lost their leaves”.

The arboreal experts add that mistletoe seems to be spreading across the UK, though they aren’t sure why. 

As yet another Redditor pointed out, though, the clumps don’t always take the form of round “puffs”.

Other clumps ― broadly nicknamed “witches’ brooms”, which can look like huge explosions of tiny branches shooting from a tree in giant nest-style fashion ― are “caused by microorganisms, and are therefore technically a type of gall,” The Woodland Trust adds.

They can be caused by fungal, viral, bacterial or even insect activity, adds the trust.

Surprised? You’re not alone

“I had always just assumed these balls to be bird nests, never looked closer and now mind blown to discover this,” u/ChocolateQuest4717 wrote. 

“I thought folk were pulling [the poster’s] leg at first until I looked it up.” 

Meanwhile, u/Bubblehits said: “Wait, I always thought these were bird nests. I’m finding out at 31 years old that it’s mistletoe!”

At least I know I’m not alone...