The following was sent via email: hi , i have in my garden this fungus i dont know. it comes up in bright yellow spots,then in a few days it go brown, and when i hit it with water or anything it releases a brown powder, is it harmful or is it poison? thanks tracey
Presuming that these "spots" are just as you say, just yellow patches of some kind, without any structure such as stems, leaves, caps, etc., a slime mold (perhaps Fuligo septica?) sounds like a good place for you to start looking for a species match. Here's a one link to get you going:http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/june99.html
The best part of Tom Volk's page on slime molds above was trip to the past for us old fogies, the theme song to "The Blob". :) Harry
LOL...Glad you enjoyed that. This puts me in mind of another incident I read about in Gary Lincoff's Audubon Mushroom Field Guide. Seems that back in the 50's ( I think...I'm doing this from memory here, so give me a little latitude), down in Texas I believe, one of the locals happened upon another "blob", this one with the appropriately scary name of Physarum polycephalum. That's right. "Many-headed" slime mold. Except the "locals" didn't know that. They just knew what it looked like...hehehe. It seem the local sheriff called up the fire department (? ) who did what they do best and proceeded to hose the thing down, attempting (one must assume) to blast it into oblivion with high pressure hoses. However, this only managed to spread the cells around allthewhile furnishing them with more moisture with which to grow. (I'm not making this up!) Apparently the "blob" became so widespread and/or so large that there was talk of having the governor call in the National Guard. Luckily, around that time a scientist happened on the scene who was able to not only put a name, but more importantly, a terrestrial origin to the aforementioned "blob", thereby avoiding an even more embarrassing scene. As I was saying, that's the way I remember reading it from the above mentioned field guide. I tried to stay as true to the facts as I could, but I have to admit to an almost epic internal struggle not to go off-topic and include about a dozen political jokes. I mean c'mon; Texas.. Governor... National Guard??? The jokes were practically writing themselves.... ;-) GW
Hi, I have just noticed this same fungus in my garden. It was so bright yellow and then turned brown. Anyone know what it is yet? Thanks, Lindie
Gary Williams Is there any way you can get a picture on-line? Again, if it has no structure, is slimy to the touch, then within a day or two hardens so dry as to release a cloud of dust when touched, it'll be a slime mold. Most species are difficult to ID accurately by eye, but they are not dangerous, either to you or your plants. They are merely grazing...cleaning them of small algae colonies they have on them. Interestingly enough, they are an non-animal organism that travels in search of it's food. Even their classification into which Kingdom of life they belong is in dispute. If there ever was a life-form thought worthy being extra-terrestrial in origin, this would be it. Enjoy them while you have them.
Hi, Me, personally, I'm not too good on the computer and don't know how to get pictures on here yet. But I checked the slime mold today. Today it had changed its looks from even the other day. it starts out real bright yellow, turns brown and powdery looking, then takes on a whiteish-brownish bark look. I'm going to toss it into a bag and throw it away tomorrow. That is what we did with the first patch. I don't see anymore though. I was told that we have to stir up our mulch so as to let air in. That is supposed to help. Thanks for your info. Lindie
Mr If it changes that fast and that dramatically, yes....that's probably what you have. Here's a link you might find interesting.
Mr "That's exactly it. Thank you!" Glad to hear it. In fact, next to, "We think it's a new species" , those are the very words I most like to hear.
I spotted a bright yellow glob on my wood mulch. I poked it .... yuck. I sniffed it.... not bad. I threw it away. A week later it re-appeard, whech freaked me out enough to google "yellow blob in my garden". I found this thread, and found it very interesting. Especially when I came to the realization that GW was my Freshman Advanced biology teacher at Glenbard North HS in 1975. GW actually taught us how to get slime molds to walk a tight rope! This is really wierd! Or as GW used to say "Wonerfull!" Anyway, I now think that slime molds must be extraterrestrial, or at least very intellegent. Jim Bennett
