This is Fuligo septica, with a name like this, you know it must look bad. Commonly called dog vomit slime mold. This one was in a flower bed with some nice black mulch. if I was still working at my old job in town, I would have walked passed this thing twice a day and would have gotten a full range of photos of its whole life cycle. This is at the very end of its cycle, the dry fruiting mass is all cracked and ready to spread its spores. When I passed it earlier in the day I spotted it but did not have my camera. In picture two, the dried blood looking spot was actually a bright red liquid bubble but when I came back with my camera, it had burst and dried up. Mold is about 12" wide. You can find more info and some cool pictures of this slime mold here..down the page a little is a section on the dog vomit slime mold. http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda
"Dog vomit"....You know how to write a subject line that will just make a photo appealing!
I suspect Ken is going to be jealous here, you captured something unusual. Good job getting several different viewpoints and scales, and including the maple seed in the overall view helps convey scale well.
Last edited by Mike B in OKlahoma on Sun Aug 26, 2007 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome
"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin
I saw a mass of this stuff just a couple of days ago, in the middle of a large lawn. I didn't know what it was. When I knocked a bit off with my toe, the interior was bright yellow, and sort of frothy. I thought it was too big to be a slime mold. "Some sort of fungus, maybe?" was what I said to the person I was walking with. But now I know -- "dog vomit slime mold".
What I am jealous of, is the fact that I did not get to see the faces of people, as they watched Doug, taking photos of what they truely think is...dog puke!
Great set of images Doug. These things can grow to monsterous proportions.
Commonly called dog vomit slime mold. This one was in a flower bed with some nice black mulch. if I was still working at my old job in town, I would have walked passed this thing twice a day and would have gotten a full range of photos of its whole life cycle. This is at the very end of its cycle, the dry fruiting mass is all cracked and ready to spread its spores. When I passed it earlier in the day I spotted it but did not have my camera. In picture two, the dried blood looking spot was actually a bright red liquid bubble but when I came back with my camera, it had burst and dried up. Mold is about 12" wide. You can find more info and some cool pictures of this slime mold here..down the page a little is a section on the dog vomit slime mold. http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm
