Walking around the yard the other day I came upon this strange gooey substance on my lawn. My first thought was that some small animal had been decomposing on my lawn after being dropped from one of the nearby palm trees by a crow. Then I thought it may be cat barf, but there was too much of it. And I don't have a dog, so ...
I kicked it with my shoe a little.
It broke open a little bit, like it was dry inside but squishy on top.
Looking around, there were a few more nearby. Some were dried out completely.
Or looked more like mushrooms.
Except that they were growing right on top of the grass.
Underneath the first one, the grass was a little black, covered in spores.
Searching online a bit, I found that it's called a slime mold (
Fuligo septica). AKA dog-vomit mold. A number of (fan)sites are devoted to it!
My molds were all in the later stages of growth, having already somewhat dried and hardened.
Apparently it is harmless to the lawn, but it certainly was a shocking sight. Maybe one more reason to get rid of a water-guzzling lawn?!
Have you ever seen this?
I've found this in my backyard (La Quinta) a few times, it's gross and we make sure to clean it up when we find it, usually preventing it from spreading elsewhere. I'm glad to have a name and more information about it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe get a lot of yellow slime mold here. That really shocked me the first time I saw it! I thought a deer had yakked on my lawn or something. Fungi are strange things...
ReplyDeleteWe get mushrooms occasionally, but I can't say I ever noticed the dog-vomit mold. Fans? They must really need something to do! Maybe if they had to clean it up, they wouldn't be such a fan.
ReplyDeleteHey guys! I'm glad I did not see it when it was in the early phase, which appears even more gooey and disgusting than the later dried up phase.
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