Friday Freaky Fungus Quiz

I spotted this strange blobby thing attached to a step just below our porch. Measuring about an inch and a half, it has not changed much in the week since I first noticed it. I suspect that it’s some sort of fungus, but I’m not absolutely sure. I ate about a teaspoon of it and developed an alternative to my usual lecture appearances. Just kidding.

But seriously, what the heck is this thing? Leave  a comment!

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21 Comments

  1. I don’t know what it is, but I had it in my garden 3 times this year. Once it was wrapped around the base of a pepper plant. It starts our sulfur yellow and darkens as it sits, hardening on the outside and remaining soft on the inside. If you stir it up when it’s fresh, it almost seems to be a zillion little eggs.
    I will keep watching this in hopes to find out what it is.

  2. We’ve had lots of these in our yard this spring. They seem to love the woodchip mulch. I keep scooping them up and throwing them away, but they pop up again and again in different places. As far as I can tell they don’t hurt anything. But I would like to know what the heck they are.

  3. OMG! I saw this at work once and had no idea what the heck it was! I’ll definitely be following in case you get an answer.

  4. Ooooohhhhh… looks like slime mold!!! Slime molds are da bomb – coolest thing EVER.

    I actually just recently posted about them on my blog, and how beautiful their fruiting bodies can be. Slime molds are a congregation of amoeba-like individuals, that come together to sporulate, and generally ooze up walls, plants, ext. to find a high point to release the spores. Yes, I am a fungus geek, and proud of it 🙂

  5. I’ve had these in my garden as well and have no clue what they are. Hope someone has the answer.

  6. OK I got so curious that I did a google search and I think it’s a slime mold. Here’s a link to a website that explains. Scroll down for pictures that look similar to yours. Apparently it’s harmless – i.e. won’t infect plants, animals, or humans. Very interesting. http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm

  7. We have a whole bunch of these in our yard this year too! Didn’t have them last year, and when I researched around, I also came to the conclusion that it’s slime mould. Definitely doesn’t seem to be damaging, although stepping on it is really messy (powdery? blah).

  8. Yep that’s a slime mold! Isn’t the Dog Vomit name perfect? When we first saw them we thought we were having an experience with an extraterrestrial!

  9. It’s not growing on concrete – it is merely moving across the concrete to find a spot to sporulate. All the growth of a slime mold happens in the “individual” stage – the aggregate is only for reproduction.

  10. The cool thing about slime molds is that they actually move around. So yours has most likely slimed its way up there.

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