Collection #: 14
Scientific Name: Lycogala epidendrum
Phylum: Mycetozoa
Order: Liceales
Family: Tubiferaceae
Common Name: Wolf's milk
Location: South Chagrin Reservasion
Habitat: On a log with mosses
Date of collecting: September 17th
Collector: Cornelia
Notes: Pink (immature) when collected; Brown (mature) now.
How did I key this out:
Fig.1 Specimen in habitat (immature) Fig.2 Spores under microscope
Fig.3 Specimen in collection box (mature)
1. (B) Fruiting bodies not as above; spores occurring in a mass within the fruiting body and enclosed (at least during the early stages of development) by a peridium (2)
2. (A) True capillitium absent, pseudocapillitium composed of irregular elements sometimes present (Order Liceales)
Key to selected species within the order Liceales:
1. (A) Fruiting body an aethalium or pseudoaethalium (2)
2. (A) Pseudocapillitium present and usually rather evident, but not taking the form of a columella-like structure (3)
3. (A) Fruting body an aethalium, pulvinate to subglobose, with no evidence of individual sporangium-like units (4)
4. (A) Pseudocapillitium consisting of flattened hyaline tubules; spores pallid (Lycogala epidendrum)
Description of the species:
Lycogala epidendrum, commonly known as wolf's milk, groening's slime is a cosmopolitan species of plasmodial slime mould which is often mistaken for a fungus. The aethalia, or fruiting bodies, occur either scattered or in groups on damp rotten wood, especially on large logs, from June to November. These aethalia are small, pink to brown cushion-like globs. They may excrete a pink paste if the outer wall is broken before maturity. When mature, the colour tends to become more brownish. When not fruiting, single celled individuals move about as very small, red amoeba-like organisms calledplasmodia, masses of protoplasm that engulf bacteria, fungal and plant spores, protozoa, and particles of non-living organic matter through phagocytosis (see slime mould for more information).
During the plasmodial stage, individuals are reddish in color, but these are almost never seen. When conditions change, the individuals aggregate by means of chemical signaling to form an aethalium, or fruiting body. These appear as small cushion-like blobs measuring about 3–15 millimetres (0.12–0.59 in) in diameter. Colour is quite variable, ranging from pinkish-grey to yellowish-brown or greenish-black, with mature individuals tending towards the darker end. They may be either round or somewhat compressed with a warted or rough texture. While immature they are filled with a pink, paste-like fluid. With maturity the fluid becomes a powdery mass of minute gray spores. The spores measure 6 to 7.5 µm and are round in shape with a netted texture and appearing ochre to lavender in colour. The pseudocapillitia, sterile elements in the spore mass, are long, flattened, branching tubes with transverse wrinkles and folds.
Collecting and keying story:
Lycogala epidendrum, commonly known as wolf's milk, groening's slime is a cosmopolitan species of plasmodial slime mould which is often mistaken for a fungus. The aethalia, or fruiting bodies, occur either scattered or in groups on damp rotten wood, especially on large logs, from June to November. These aethalia are small, pink to brown cushion-like globs. They may excrete a pink paste if the outer wall is broken before maturity. When mature, the colour tends to become more brownish. When not fruiting, single celled individuals move about as very small, red amoeba-like organisms calledplasmodia, masses of protoplasm that engulf bacteria, fungal and plant spores, protozoa, and particles of non-living organic matter through phagocytosis (see slime mould for more information).
During the plasmodial stage, individuals are reddish in color, but these are almost never seen. When conditions change, the individuals aggregate by means of chemical signaling to form an aethalium, or fruiting body. These appear as small cushion-like blobs measuring about 3–15 millimetres (0.12–0.59 in) in diameter. Colour is quite variable, ranging from pinkish-grey to yellowish-brown or greenish-black, with mature individuals tending towards the darker end. They may be either round or somewhat compressed with a warted or rough texture. While immature they are filled with a pink, paste-like fluid. With maturity the fluid becomes a powdery mass of minute gray spores. The spores measure 6 to 7.5 µm and are round in shape with a netted texture and appearing ochre to lavender in colour. The pseudocapillitia, sterile elements in the spore mass, are long, flattened, branching tubes with transverse wrinkles and folds.
Collecting and keying story:
I thought this was a mushroom when I first saw it... The specimen was cute, with a bright pinky orange color, and feels very soft and flexible when the fruiting body is immature. When mature, the spores exploded out when I touched it and made me thought that I killed it...
Phylum, order and family name cited from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycogala_epidendrum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycogala_epidendrum
Keys cited from:
Myxomycetes--a handbook of slime molds by Steven L. Stephenson and Henry Stempen
Description cited from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycogala_epidendrum
Myxomycetes--a handbook of slime molds by Steven L. Stephenson and Henry Stempen
Description cited from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycogala_epidendrum
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