Index
Practical ecological knowledge for the temperate reader.

Fuligo septica - Dog's Vomit

Introduction

"This species of plasmodial slime mold is found globally. It is "often found on bark mulch in urban areas after heavy rain or excessive watering. Their spores are produced on or in aerial sporangia and are spread by wind." (Wikipedia 2012)." [E-flora]

"...forms a white to yellow “mushroom” (= spore-producing mass) of irregular form and which becomes crusty and blackish within (Physacaeae)" [Barrows ABDR, 2011]

"This is one of the most common, conspicuous, and best known myxomycetes. Several other species of Fuligo are occasionally encountered, but all of these have spores greater than 10 micrometers in diameter, and this feature alone distinguishes them from F. septica. Fuligo intermedia Macbride has a thin yellowish gray or brown cortex and globose spores 10 to 12 micrometers in diameter; F. cinerea (Schweinitz) Morgan has a white cortex and elliptical spores typically 13 to 15 micrometers in diameter; F. megaspora Sturgis is characterized by an extremely thick, spongy cortex and very large (15 to 20 micrometers in diameter), strongly marked spores." [Stephenson and Stempen 1994]

"The flowers of tan, Fuligo septica (L.) Wiggers, form yellow slime masses (plasmodia), which are often to be found in woods after damp weather. For reproduction, the plasmodium transforms into a sessile flat crust (aethalium) which contains the blackish spore mass. Light plays an important role in the complex life cycle of the slime mold. ... the yellow color of the plasmodia of Fuligo septica is due to the occurrence of tetramic acids with a polyene chromophore. " [Casser et al.]

"...myxomycetes are now considered to be members of the Protozoa, separate from both fungi and animals. For most of its life a slime mold exists as a thin, free-living mass of protoplasm. Sometimes this mass is several centimeters across and, as the name “slime mold” suggests, viscous or slimy to the touch. This mass of protoplasm, called a plasmodium, can change form and creep slowly about, much like a giant amoeba. As it moves along, the plasmodium feeds upon bacteria and bits of organic matter." [EPMW Hall]

"In cultures of K. mutabilis [Kuehneromyces mutabilis] established in the same area for 15 years, only one fungal disease was found on the fruit bodies. This was the myxomycete Fuligo séptica ( L . ) Weber. This fungus does not impair mycehal growth in the wood, but is a parasite on primordia and fruit bodies. Fuligo séptica causes tissue softening. The fruit body of K. mutabilis falls down and is completely digested by the parasite. This disease can be controlled by treating the wood with a suspension of 5 gm of Phomasan in water (toxic substance: PCNB) and Thiuram 85 (toxic substance: TMTD ) , respectively. At 20oC K. mutabilis recovers from its toxic effect in 1 to 2 weeks." [Chang BCEM]

"The sporocarps of Enteridium, Tubifera, and Fuligo commonly provide habitat for beetles and several other biotas (members of Anisotomidae, Leiodidae, or Agathidiidae). Their spores can be found in the fecal pellets of these animals. Therefore, they play a major role in the dispersal mechanism of myxomycete fungi. A number of fungi have developed a strategy to attract animals when spores are mature and lead the animals to consume the spores. The attractants are volatile organic compounds, including pheromones (Claus et al. 1981). [Li BM]

"Fuligo septica produces bioactive substances that in addition to inhibiting cellular growth without being cytotoxic, exert antibiotic activity towards gram-positive bacteria and the human-pathogenic yeast Candida albicans (Chiappeta et al. 1999)." [Arora HFB]

Edible Use

"Fuligo septica is one of the few slime molds reported to have been consumed by humans (Stephenson and Stempen 1994)." [EPMW Hall]

"Although one would hardly look upon myxomycetes as likely items of food, at least two species have been reported to be consumed by humans. In the state of Veracruz in Mexico, both the plasmodium of Fuligo septica and the very early developing aethalia of Enteridium lycoperdon are collected, fried, and eaten by some of the indigenous peoples. The local name used to refer to these edible myxomycetes is caca de luna (López et al. 1982; Villarreal 1983)." [Stephenson and Stempen 1994]

"Some people eat cooked F. septica which tastes somewhat like almonds."[Barrows ABDR, 2011]

"Mapes et al., [11] who reported Fuligo septica (L.) FH Wigg in the municipality of Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, located in Western Mexico, provided the frst documentation on the edibility of Myxomycota worldwide. According to the authors, the Myxomycete is considered as a fungus and the local residents classifed it into “Tamanda”, a group of fungi that grow on logs (according to the mushroom traditional classifcation of Purepecha ethnic group). Specifcally, they referred F. septica (other Myxomycetes species) as “Tamanda kuatsita”, which means “indicative fungus” or “good fungus” and local residents consume it like eggs. The same species, F. septica, was also reported to be edible in Ixtenco and Los Pilares, surroundings the La Malinche volcano in the state of Tlaxcala, in Central Mexico [10,12]. In these two reports, F. septica is consumed and usually combined with fried eggs, in the raw state. The local residents name it as “stick mushroom” because it usually grows on tree stumps and decaying woods." [Rodríguez-Palma MM, et al.,2017]

"Fuligo septica... is eaten with egg by the purepecha" (Translated from spanish) [Mapes et al.,1981]

Medicinal Uses

"One type of fungus, probably the slime mold, Fuligo by description, was placed on boils and swellings to make them come to a head (Boas, 1966)." [Turner&Bell2]


[Chapman et al., 1983]

Phytochemistry

"The isolation of a tetramic acid derivative from Fuligo septica is remarkable, since compounds of this type are known as mycotoxins, antibiotics and antitumor agents." [Casser et al.]

"Fuligoic acid (1), a new yellow pigment with a chlorinated polyene–pyrone acid structure, was isolated from field-collected fruit bodies of the myxomycete Fuligo septica f. flava" [Shintani et al., 2009]

Zinc Accumulator: "Samples of the slime mold Fuligo septica (L.) Wiggers were collected from an ecologically diverse selection of sites across the former USSR and in North Korea to determine their Zn concentrations. Plasmodia were collected from trees, rocks, soils, the walls of buildings and a variety of other materials and structures from 1990 to 1996. The biomass collected ranged from 305 to 968 mg, whereas Zn concentrations in plasmodia of F. septica ranged from 8400 to 23000 mg kg−1 dry wt. (mean and standard error = 14200 +/- 860 mg kg−1 dry wt.). No clear trend as to which areas produced F. septica with the highest Zn concentrations was discernable." [Zhulidov et al.,2002]

5(R)-Fuligorubin A [AlkChem&PharmV.40]


Parasites


Related Species


References


Page last modified on Monday, January 10, 2022 3:08 AM