Hello all. I was wondering if I might get some help identifying this fungus(?) in my garden. It showed up about 5 days ago and I've been putting off finding out what it is but I noticed it seems to be surrounding my lilies and I don't want that lol. It started out a very light brown, almost tan color and now it's growing darker and darker. The biggest patch of it is actually black and the smaller bits are getting black spots. Also, when I turned on the sprinkler tonite I noticed that if a drop of water hits it, black dust floats up into the air..Kinda freaked me out and now I don't know how I should go about removing it. I've attached some pictures. The third pic is just to show about how tall it is. Only about a half inch to an inch high. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated :)
Looks like a slime mould. Possibly Fuligo septica. The 'dust' is actually the spore as it's released into the air.
Wow very interesting stuff. Thanks for the help! As far as I could find out, the stuff will eventually go away on it's own and it's not harmful to my plants as it gets its nutrients from already dead organic matter. Think I'll just let it run it's course. Actually the Dictyosteliomycota variety is pretty fascinating although that's not what I have in my garden. Thanks again!!
