Slime mold
Today, I went on the Prairie Seeker field training over in Collin County. It was a great day! Only got misted on a little bit and the only shower came when we were getting back into cars to leave. Good karma! I will share tomorrow what we found.
Tapioca slime mold (Brefeldia maxima) is interesting! Actually with the wet weather we have quite a bit of it growing in the our woods. Sometimes it just is on the ground. Its spores are dispersed by invertebrates and rain.
Sometimes it will climb up a stick or weed. The red stuff is it digesting. There is another slime mold called Dog Vomit which is more yellowish. I have not photographed that one.
This is one of my favorite slime molds called Chocolate Tube slime mold (Stemonitis splendens). It can be hard to spot because it is small and blends in. It can be up 20 mm tall, but mostly I find it about 10 mm tall.
This is the top view. It is interesting to see the tubes move in a breeze.
Keep looking!