Specimen #16 Slimemold

Specimen 16: Slimemold

Figure 1: Pictured above are immature examples of the cushion-like specimen that were collected from a well-rotted wood. They are pinkish in color and when "popped," they released a toothpaste-like substance of a similar color. 

Scientific Name: Lycogala epidendrum
Common Name: Wolf's Milk
Order: Liceales
Family: Reticulariaceae
Collection Date: September 20, 2015
Habitat: scattered or clustered on well-rotted wood
Location: Hiram College Field Station - Hiram, OH
Description: fruiting bodies appear pinkish-gray to bright red in color when young, but turn olive-brown with age; paste-like substance; appear in small, cushion-like bulbs
Collector: Breanna Beltz

Key Used: Stephenson, S.L, Stempen H. 1994. Myxomycetes: A Handbook of SlimeMolds. Timber Press, Inc.. Portland, OR.

Key Steps:

• Order: Liceales --> pp. 76 
• Fruiting body an aethalium or pseudoaethalium --> 2
• Fruiting body an aethalium, pulvinate to subglobose, with no evidence or individual sporangium-like units --> 4
• Pseudocapillitium consisting of flattened hyaline tubules; spores pallid --> Lycogala epidendrum

Ecology:
This specimen is inedible (Messiah College). This is one of the most commonly found and identified slime molds (Messiah College).

Links:

http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/puffball%20and%20cushion/species%20pages/Lycogala%20epidendrum.htm
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/lycogala.html
http://ncrfungi.uark.edu/species/38_lycogalaEpidendrum/lycogalaEpidendrum.html
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Lycogala+epidendrum

Slimemold Links:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/protista/slimemolds.html
http://www.microbeworld.org/types-of-microbes/protista/slime-molds
http://www.herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/SlimeMold.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/the-sublime-slime-mold/
http://lancaster.unl.edu/hort/articles/2013/SlimeMold.shtml