Fuligo septica.
Phylum Amoebozoa > Class Myxogastria > Order Physarales > Family Physaraceae.
A common slime mould resembling scrambled eggs.
It grows on rotten wood, bark mulch and occasionally on living plants.
The plasmoidal phase is a bright yellow or white slime.
This can be up to 20 cm wide and around 2 cm thick.
In the spore forming stage the plasmodium contracts to form a sessile, cushion like mass.
This can be from a few mm up to 30 cm long.
This mass of fused sporangia, called an aethalium, may be yellow, reddish or brown.
These aethalia are the largest of all the slime moulds.
The covering cortex can be a dense crust of variable thickness or may be absent.
As the spores mature the initiallly soft, foamy surface becomes hard and brittle and cracks.
The internal spore mass is initially yellow but matures to a dull black or deep purplish-brown.
J.F.
