The Saliva Tree

"The Saliva Tree" is a science fiction novella by British writer Brian W. Aldiss first published in the September 1965 issue of The [Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction|The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]. It won the 1965 Nebula Award for Best Novella.
"The Saliva Tree" was written to mark the centenary of H. G. Wells's birth, and shared the Nebula Award for the best novella of 1965. While set in a Wellsian milieu, it contains two plot elements also found in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft: an object from space which causes crops and livestock to grow prolifically, but be unpalatable and a monster which is visible only when sprayed with an opaque powder.