Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Lycogala epidendrum

This is a supermacro of this interesting slime mold! The small, pink, textured "balls" can be somewhere around a quarter of an inch across, though some are a bit larger and some smaller. Found a scattering of these on a log yesterday, 17 August 2013, at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. It rained when I was driving to the park, cleared up by the time I got there, but the light was not good within the forest. Luckily, a bit of sun was shining on these two. Also saw a pair of Ruffed Grouse and a group of three rare Three-toed Woodpeckers, which was so lucky! "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 called plasmodia, masses of protoplasm that engulf bacteria, fungal and plant spores, protozoa, and particles of non-living organic matter through phagocytosis." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycogala_epidendrum

These very small orange balls are the fruiting bodies of Wolf's Milk slime mold, growing on a decaying log in the Bragg Creek Natural Area. It is widley distributed in North America and occurs June-November. The balls are 0.3-1.5 cm wide and high.

Sorry - I'm afraid you might just get a bit sick of seeing fungi, as I have taken SO many photos of different ones in this past week! These pink fungi were only very small - my photo makes them look much bigger than they actually were. They were growing quite near the edge of the trail I was on, too. Doug - many thanks for the ID; much appreciated!

I haven't identified these fungi but I just liked seeing them against the patterned wood. Best seen in a larger size.