THIS YELLOW fungus was growing on a log at the edge of the path through a conifer plantation at Newmillerdam. I’m not sure whether the log was hardwood or softwood.
It’s the first species that I’ve tried to identify from the Collins Fungi Guide, by Stefan Buczacki and going by his description and the illustration by Denys Ovenden I think this must be Yellow Cobweb, Plebiella sulphurea, formerly known as Trechispora vaga, although I’ll admit that my photograph, taken on the 17th, makes it look more like yellow vermicelli.
Thank you to Monique in the Netherlands who tells me this isn’t in fact a fungus (see comment), I did wonder about that:
It’s called dog vomit slime mold, in Dutch “witch’s butter”. It’s very slimy and it can “walk”.
You can see its slime trail over the moss in my photograph.
Hello Richard,
I love your work and though I live in the Netherlands I’ve bought some of your books with the recipes (yummie). I follow the trails on Streetview.
Last month I saw the same kind of fungus in the forest. It’s called dog vomit slime mold, in Dutch “witch’s butter”. It’s very slimy and it can “walk”.
Best wishes!
Thank you, that’s why I couldn’t find anything that quite fitted in the book; I’ll plump for the Dutch ‘witch’s butter’ rather than the dog vomit name.
With the witch’s egg that I drew yesterday, I’m building up a bit of a theme in time for Halloween.