I recently noticed a white growth on an old tree stump in my back garden. On closer inspection I found it was made up of what looked like very small eggs (see Photo, top right). The next day I saw that the 鈥渆ggs鈥� had turned into a purple slime (see Photo, bottom right). The day after that, the slime had dried up and disappeared. No pesticides are used in my garden. Can anyone shed light on what this substance is?
鈥� This would appear to be a , most likely Enteridium lycoperdon. The photos show different stages of its life cycle.
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Slime moulds are neither fungi nor bacteria but a different form of eukaryotic life, in some ways similar to amoebae. Their life cycle includes a 鈥渞esting鈥� stage in which there are no defined cell walls, just 鈥渘aked鈥� protoplasm (the lower picture), and a 鈥渇ruiting鈥� stage, in which fruiting-body structures form.
Rich Boden, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK