Slime mould

[solus]

I found this one yesterday on the broken end of a fallen Birch branch/trunk in an Oak/Birch wood in mid Wales. It was creamy coloured, like a mini-cauliflower and composed of tiny round 'balls'.

I thought it might be Fuligo septica but now I'm not so sure because of the colour...

Can anybody help, please?

[CapAndBracket]

Snap, i posted this a couple of weeks ago, a growing Enteridium lycoperdon is a possibility but they both seem to be more granular like Tubifera ferruginosa, a microscope is the only real answer i'm afraid. There were two E.lycoperdon's on the tree that mine was, which gave me the suspicion it was one growing (i should say forming as it is an aggregation of the plasmodium), should have got back when it ripened and collected but truth to tell i forgot.

Cheers J.P.

[fairplay]

Enteridium lycoperdon always has a smooth, silky exterior, the 2 photo's seem more like Mucilago crustacea, but this is normally on grass.

Then again, it could be a white version of Tubifera ferruginosa (assuming they come in white)

Neil.

[solus]

Well, mine was definitely composed of round balls or granules and was not smooth, nor did it look much like the Mucilago crustacea I have previously seen on grass. The only other fungi I could see further down the branch/log were some small Birch Polypores, which didn't help much.

I suppose what I really want to know is, does Fuligo septica come in pale cream/off-white? Does Tubifera ferruginosa for that matter??

As I found this in mid-Wales there's absolutely no chance of my going back for another look!

[fairplay]

Calling Bruce Ing, calling Bruce Ing !! - he's the guy we need at this very moment as there is so much confusing stuff on the web.

I've been googling/yahooing Mucilago all morning, and became more and more convinced we are looking at Mucilago here as it seems it it not confined to grasses but can also be found on wood.

Even more important, after the 'dog's vomit' stage, it turns into a lumpy insect egg appearance stage, BUT then I looked on the Hainault Forest Website, (go to home, photographs, misc', slimemoulds, and find Enteridium lycogala) and lo and behold, you will see a cluster of 3 on bark looking almost identicle to the photos on the WAB.

So it seems I was wrong about E. lycogala always being smooth and silky in appearance.... or being the web, is the photo of the 3 slimemoulds misidentified ?

I read sometime back that Fuligo septica can also be found in a white form, make of that what you will ! - and as for Tubifera ferruginosa available in white - why not ?!!.

Hope you are now as confused as I am.

Neil.

[CapAndBracket]

So we are all suitably confused.

I did wonder that as there were two larger/smoother fritbodies on the same tree as my photo that maybe they look like the photo when developing.

I accept all the comments you make in your post and they may be a completely different species.

If we could culture one in a sandwich box or on a woodpile these questions would be answered, so far i have had no luck with that, i do get the occaional small one on dung and if you put a handfull of leaves (say half rotten from the ground under a beech tree) in a sandwich box you are quite likely to get some small colourful fruit bodies.

Cheers J.P.

[solus]

Originally Posted by fairplay

Hope you are now as confused as I am.

Neil.

*Sob*

[fairplay]

Wherefore art thou oh mighty Myconick, I'm sure you can end this misery with a wave of your magic wand.

Neil.

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by fairplay

Wherefore art thou oh mighty Myconick, I'm sure you can end this misery with a wave of your magic wand.

Neil.

Flattery will usually get you everywhere Neil - except now !!

You can't really identify any myxomycetes (perhaps to a genus, but not always as is evident here and certainly not to species level unless they are fully mature and the spores are ripe !)

Immature plasmodia,such as this one, show features distinctly different from those that have reached maturity AND will also have no spores present !

Perhaps the only exception to this is Fuligo septica which is fairly distinctive in both states (look similar in each) - but (replying to a query in another thread) I believe that even that may not be quite true since F. septica does have an pallid form which doesn't look like the typical species.


mykonik (flattered, but on this occasion, useless !!!)

[fairplay]

Thanks again for that Nick.

In White Admiral, the Suffolk Naturalists Society members magazine, someone wrote recently that it would be good to have a Myxy' recorder for Suffolk, I had a good think about this but thought no, fungi are heavy enough as it is.

I'm sure now I made the right decision !

Neil.

[CapAndBracket]

Not useless myconik, you have command of the vocabulary to explain the situation better than i could. (they are fascinating though).

Cheers J.P.