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More on Slime Moulds

This entry adds to, and corrects, the entry above that describes Fuligo septica, the Dog Vomit slime mould.

The excitement at finding the slime mould - believe it or not I recognised it as such straight away - was added to by my identifying it as having a great name - Dog Vomit slime mould. I monitored the occurrence of clumps of this slime mould as described above, and this is ongoing as of August 2023. There are between one and six new clumps every day, but, noticeably, not when it is actually raining.

However, having brought some home to examine under the microscope as it matures, and produces spores, I realised that this is not Fuligo septica, the Dog Vomit (or Scambled Egg) slime mould, but is in fact a myxomycete slime mould named Physarum virescens.

In my own defence I was reassured to find that the two I have named are very similar in general appearance and occurrence and not only do they belong to the same family, but there have been suggestions that for various reasons they should combine into one genus. But they are different enough to stay separate.

Well. Whatever.

Have a look at this exhibition of photos of slime moulds (bottom of page).

To be continued