Subject: Name that fungus

From: [email-masked] (Cynthia Donahey)
Date: 17 Jun 1995 12:02:56 -0400

I have been making some planters out of old rotted logs - mostly from a
silver maple cut down maybe three years ago. I have a lot of sedums,
cactus,thyme,  and some dwarfed hardy annuals growing out of it. Recently, I
noticed what seemed to patches of bright yellow plasticized paint, This
disappeared after a few days turning into a beigy kind of fungus. Can
anyone tell me the name? Actually, considerably the mix of plants, the
fungus has an aesthetic appeal to it, unlike some slime molds. E-mail me
back if you know.

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From: [email-masked] (Kathie T. Hodge)
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 12:55:38 -0300

[email-masked] (Cynthia Donahey) wrote:

> Recently, I

Sounds exactly like the common "dog's vomit slime," Fuligo septica.   Here
in central NY state, we frequently find this slime mold oozing over bark
mulch.  As the plasmodium begins to pile itself up to make a fruiting body,
it ressembles a gushy glob of bright yellow custard.  As it matures, it
turns to a beige, spongy-looking, inoffensive pancake which, if you break
it open, contains zillions of chocolate brown spores.  Each spore
germinates to release a tiny amoeba which crawls about looking for pals and
engulfing food like bacteria on its way.

Even though it's technically a protist, not a fungus, we like Fuligo
septica.  It makes us smile.  We like it so much that we sometimes give it
as "pet slime molds" to unsuspecting students in our introductory mycology
classes.  On water agar in a petri dish the plasmodium is clearish with
yellow veins and will ooze happily around looking for the pieces of oatmeal
we feed it.  Our students love it!

Enjoy,
Kathie Hodge
[email-masked]
now-and-then teaching assistant,
Dept. of Plant Pathology
Cornell University