| Species: Fuligo septica (L.) F.H. Wigg. | |
| Description: |
| SPORANGIA: Aethalia pulvinate, varying in size from 2 mm. to more than 30 cm., various shades of yellow in the typical form, also greenish, reddish, and brown to deep chocolate. The sporangia constituting the aethalium are intricately coiled and anastomosing, but often more or less separated in the mass, with spaces in between; cortex thick or thin, a dense crust of lime or undeveloped Plasmodium, loose or firm, or absent entirely; sporangial walls within the aethalium membranous, fragile, colourless, with scattered deposits of lime-granules. CAPILLITIUM: scanty or abundant, consisting of a loose network of slender hyaline threads, more or less expanded at the axils, with fusiform or branching lime-knots, usually white but often yellow, or occasionally reddish or brownish. NOTES: Common Names: Dog vomit slime, Scrambled egg slime, Flowers of tan | ||
| SPORES: Purplish-brown smooth to minutely spiny 6 - 9 µm in diameter. PLASMODIUM: bright yellow or white. | ECOLOGY: On leaf litter or on rotting logs or stumps in native bush . Also regularly appears in wood chip mulch. DISTRIBUTION: Cosmopolitan, New Zealand wide. | |
| Macro images: |
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| Fruiting body that has come to rest at the highest point here it will dry out going through a number of colour changes before braking down and releasing its spore. | Scale = 12.5 mm. |
| Micro images: |
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| Close up view of a small Fuligo septica showing the textured surface. | Scale = 1.3 mm. |
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| Close up of part of the fruiting body below | Scale = 3.5 mm. |
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| Scale = 11 mm. |
 | Plasmodium |
In this form slime moulds can move and consume all food in there path (spores, bacteria etc.) it is not unusual to see them swarming over the surface of fungi when encountered. When conditions are right they will often make for as much height as possible traveling up to a meter to do so. |
| Plasmodium: This photo shows the plasmodium of Fuligo septica traveling over leaf litter then up the side of a small log. It's from this form that slime moulds get there common name, being slimy and sticky to the touch. | Scale = 15 mm. |
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| Spores: Purplish-brown smooth to minutely spiny 6-9 µm in diameter. | Magnification = 1000x |
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