cropping

Photos of the substance began cropping up on a beachcombers group online, prompting speculation that it was fungus or mold, palm oil, paraffin wax or even ambergris - a rare and valuable substance produced by whales and used in the perfume industry.

An industrial chemical used in plastic products has been cropping up in illegal drugs from California to Maine, a sudden and puzzling shift in the drug supply that has alarmed health researchers.

City officials said programs preventing homelessness, combined with enforcement of its anti-camping laws, have kept encampments from cropping up to the extent seen in other cities.

The tale has in fact morphed into a modern myth, forever cropping up on stages and screens, sometimes in traditional form, sometimes in contemporary guise and sometimes as fodder for sitcoms, as in “The Brady Bunch” episode “Cyrano de Brady.”

Toward the end of the summer, when mosquitoes have reached their peak numbers and start jostling for any available blood meal, human cases start cropping up.