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LinkedInDog Vomit Fungus
Avocado growers have been ecstatic at fruit prices and are walking their groves more avidly, checking things out and seeing lots of things they don't normally see. A recent grower find has been a blob of Fulgio septica - ‘Dog Vomit' or ‘Dog Fungus'. It's not vomit, it's not a fungus, but a slime mold that lives off the organic matter littering orchards and in mulched gardens. After the rains and when it starts to warm up, the spores of these non-animal, non-plants germinate and start moving around. They aggregate into a mass, called a plasmodium, a super individual that starts out as a yellowish, spongy mass that can move in a slow, amoeboid-like fashion. It gradually hardens and can take on the brownish-tan coloring seen in the image below. As it dries, it breaks up and blows away. It won't do harm to living plants, simply feeding on dead material. It will gradually disappear. So, as you walk your orchard or your backyard, enjoy the unusual appearance of a rainy year member of the web of nature.
dog vomit fungus
