Slick as snot
Slick as snot, figurative (meaning neato) and literally. Jim was pushing trees and this was left in the dirt. From a distance, I thought the white was going to be piece of pottery or glass because this was where an old house once stood. Imagine my surprise when I saw the rest of it covered with dirt. The purplish color was so cool! Next I examined it even closer. I found that the interior layer was slick as snot. Ok the technical term would be gelatinous but you get the picture. Update: I ran across a better match for this. It is now I believe an immature Phyllus ravenelii or P. hadriani which a type of stinkhorn. Phallogaster saccatus is suppose to have a gelatinous center. This one did not (see below). I had thought it was immature but further research points more towards the other.
The gelatinous interior.
Brought it back to the house to clean it further.
I cut it open to get a sample for the spores.
And of course I had to look at the spores. This is at 400X. It is a Club-shaped Stinkhorn or also called Stink Poke (Phallogaster saccatus). First I have ever seen!
Also came across this egg casing.
It was very crumbly; not hard at all as I had expected. I did not find any critters.
A piece under the microscope.
Closer.
Wow, so cool!
That is weird!!! It's the Blob.
Was it inside the tree at the ground or outside it?
Kathy
Kathy, As far as I could tell it was located on the open ground. I have looked in the area for more of them, but no luck.