Hainault Forest Website
Written
and Designed by Brian Ecott
|
|
Myxomycetes
- Slime moulds |
|
|
|
Dictydiaethalium plumbeum |
|
 |
Professor Bruce Ing, is a
world authority on Slime moulds, and now living in Scotland. As a Boy in
the 1950's he lived in East London and although he he knew Hainault
Forest, he did most of his Natural History studies in Epping Forest. I
remember going there as a youngster, and looking at the small exhibit of
Myxomycetes (Slime moulds) at the museum in Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge.
They fascinated me then!
Bruce Ing is the author of
the Myxomycetes of Britain and Ireland (1999) Richmond Press.
I wrote to him and he
kindly identified the slime mould (pictured left) as a plasmodium stage of
the slime mould Dictydiaethalium plumbeum and reported that there
are only a handful of records for Essex |
|
|
The slime
mould was growing on a fallen Beech branch on Hoghill 18th January
2016 |
|
 |
|
|
Plasmodium stage of D.
Dictydiaethalium on the edge of a broken beech branch 13th
December 2019. Photo © Brian Ecott |
|
 |
|
|
Plasmodium stage of
Dictydiaethalium
plumbeum on fallen beech 23rd
January 2016.
Photo © Brian
Ecott Arrowed is the beginning of a later stage - a sporocarp
with silvery white surround of hypothallus. |
|
  |
|
|
Pictured here is the next stage, a well
developed
pseudocapillitium. It is composed of columns of hexagonal
sporocarps. Pictured right is a close up of a split which shows the
columnar structure (centre).
Picture © Raymond Small. 1st January 2020. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Another plasmodium stage of
Dictydiaethalium
plumbeum on
fallen beech on Dog Kennel Hill 8th Jan 2020. Pictured right on 11th
Jan 2020 shows the
pseudocapillitium which has developed in the
middle. Photos
© Brian Ecott. |
|
|
|
|
Metatrichia floriformis |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
On the 12th March
2018 Raymond Small photographed a mass of black "eggs" which looked to me
like caviar on a fallen oak on Hog Hill. The bark and much of the trunk
was rotten. On closer examination they appeared to be stalked. I had seen
Slime moulds before and thought that this what they were and checked with
Bruce Ing's book Myxomycetes of Britain and Ireland. and
identified it as a common species of rotting wood in woodlands.
Fearing that it might spore we went back the following day to find
that many of the sporocarps had split and produced spore-like masses.
Photos © Raymond Small and Brian Ecott.
13th March 2018. |
|
|
 |
|
|
Metatrichia floriformis
sporocarps
(black) on rotten beech log, Dog Kennel
Hill. Photographed
29th October 2006.
The pink slime mould as yet unidentified. |
|
|
|
|
A week in the life of a
Slime mould Comatricha
nigra
Raymond Small discovered
this creamy white slime mould (below) on another fallen beech on the
2nd January 2019. We decided to visit daily to see how it developed.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Raymond Small discovered this creamy white slime mould (above) on a
fallen beech on the 2nd January 2019. We decided to visit daily to see
how it developed. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
DAY 1
Creamy white sporocarps with long thin stalks 9mm. tall |
DAY 2
The sporocarps are turning pinkish. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
DAY 3 The sporocarps
are red-brown |
DAY 4 The sporocarps
are shiny black, some at the top of picture are rough black. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
DAY 6 The sporocarps
are rough brown. |
DAY 7 The sporocarps
are discharging millions of spores. |
|
|
All
photos © Brian Ecott |
|
| |
|
|
Trichia decipiens |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Trichia decipiens on
rotted wood. 30th October 2011 Photos © Iris Newbery & Peter Comber |
|
 |
|
|
This beautiful picture of Tricia decipiens was taken on
16th December 2019 Photo
© Raymond Small. The sporocarps measure 3mm in
height, diameter 0.8mm. |
|
|
|
|
Hemitrichia clavata |
|
 |
|
|
Hemitrichia
clavata Sporocarps yellow to ochrous. On sodden rotting oak timber
18th November 2018 Photo © Brian Ecott |
|
 |
|
|
By the 9th December
the Hemitrichia clavata was a mass of golden spores Scan ©
Brian Ecott |
|
|
|
|
Dog's
vomit or Porridge slime mould
Mucilago crustacea |
|
 |
|
|
Slime mould Mucilago
crustacea on
grass just inside the Oak path gate. It is a complex organism which
has its own Kingdom - the Slime moulds, They are not related to fungi.
23rd September 2017. Photo © Brian Ecott. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Slime mould Mucilago
crustacea on grass and bramble.
Photographed 14th October 2004. Cabin Hill. Photo © Brian Ecott.
NB Everywhere on grassland in
2019 |
Mucilago
crustacea slime mould on leaf litter, Dog Kennel Hill.
Photo: ©
Iris Newbery. 29th Oct. 2006. |
|
|
|
|
Lycogala terrestre Wolf's milk or Tooth paste slime mould |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Lycogala terrestre
on
old hornbeam stump. The picture was taken on 14th April
2006 when the slime mould was forming and was spongy.
|
One week later 21st April 2006 the
slime mould was bronze coloured, hard. (Mature aethalia).
It was beginning to crack and release the spores. Pictured near
Sheepwater. © Brian Ecott |
|
 |
|
 |
Above and left are Slime moulds. They
have been common this year (2017) on fallen rotten logs. They measure 15mm or
less across. There are several species and they often appear after
rain.
Pictured is Wolf's blood Lycogala epidendrum,
pseudocapillitium Notice the
large one in the group on the right of the picture above. This has
been squeezed and a pink fluid has exuded (see left) and contains
millions upon millions of tiny unicellular organisms. The large, now
flattened cell shows a spiny surface.
During my time at school we
were taught that there were two Kingdoms of living things - Plants and
Animals. Now we know that many things do not fit these categories. Now
there is the Fungi Kingdom and the Slime moulds belong to the Kingdom
Myxomycetes. Other Kingdoms exist.
4th July 2017. Photos ©
Brian Ecott |
|
|
|
|
False puffball
Reticularia lycoperdon |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Three examples of Reticularia
lycoperdon on a Hawthorn stump 19th March 2003 on Foxburrows Farm. The
largest (enlarged right) was 5 cm diameter, and shows a cauliflower
appearance. Colour is normally white or pale yellow at this stage.
Photos
©
Brian Ecott |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Reticularia
lycoperdon
photographed on hornbeam log in Lambourne Great Wood. April 2003. |
Reticularia lycoperdon
on old Elder stump. Photo: 6 May 2006 on Hog Hill. (Stage 2) |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Reticularia lycoperdon
(Stage 3) May 2001.
|
Reticularia lycoperdon
(Stage 4) on old oak stump
13th August 2012 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Reticularia
lycoperdon
(Stage 4) on oak 18th May 2012 |
Reticularia lycoperdon
(Stage 4) The skin is
peeling exposing the black spore mass. 27th March 2009. |
|
 |
|
|
Slime mould Reticularia
lycoperdon on
rotting birch trunk, Dog Kennel Hill appeared after the heavy rain.
25th March 2016. Photo © Brian Ecott |
|
|
 |
|
|
Slime mould Reticularia
lycoperdon. Judging
by the number of letters going to NaturePlus
at the Natural History Museum this must be appearing all over the
place this spring. 7th April 2016.
Photo © Colin Carron. |
|
|
 |
|
|
Reticularia lycoperdon
among moss on a fallen log.
19th April 2019.
Photo
© Brian Ecott. |
|
| |
|
|
Flowers of Tan Fuligo septica
septica |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Flowers of
Tan
Fuligo septica var.
septica . Lambourne Wood. October 1991 |
|
 |
|
|
Flowers of
Tan Fuligo septica var. septica on birch. Photo ©
Daniel Britton.. |
Flowers of
Tan Fuligo septica var. septica on oak stump. Photo ©
Daniel Britton.13th August
2012
|
|
|
 |
Left: Flowers of Tan slime mould Fuligo
septica var. septica on Lambourne
Woods. 15th August 2017. Photo © Brian Ecott. |
|
|
|
|
Fuligo septica var. rufa |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Slime mould Fuligo candida
on cut hornbeam, Roe's Well 20th July 2006. Greatest length 17 cms. |
Slime mould
Fuligo rufa
in Lambourne Wood
October 2002 |
|
|
|
|
|
Fuligo septica var. flava |
|
 |
|
|
This was found on the woodchip piles by
the Headland Path. The conservation team has arranged for some of the
indigenous trees to be thinned out and chipped for future use. Raymond
Small's sister Elaine Wiltshire spotted a strange sight on a woodpile
which lead to an extensive Slime mould being discovered covering many
of the wood piles Slimy plasmodium of Fuligo septica var. flava
the colour of peanut butter pictured here. This creeping slime mould
which can appear worldwide was named Caca de Luna or Moon's Poo by the
South Americans as it suddenly appears overnight and creeps very
slowly in amoeboid fashion and changing its form over a few days.
Picture © Brian Ecott 18th
May 2018 |
|
 |
|
|
View of the
aethalium of Fuligo septica var. flava. Note the porous,
"bread-like" texture and the deep
red liquefied areas Pictures © Brian Ecott 18th May 2018 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Close-up view of the
aethalium of Fuligo septica var. flava above. Note the porous,
"bread-like" texture and the deep red liquefied areas |
Mature aethalium of
Fuligo septica var. flava with crusty, powdery surface
resembling cement. Just below the surface are masses of spores
resembling fine brown dust. |
|
|
 |
|
|
The crusty, powdery surface of this
aethalium of Fuligo septica var. flava has been gently
scraped away to reveal a spore mass resembling fine brown dust
Photos © Brian Ecott 27th May 2018 |
|
|
|
|
Arcyria stipata |
|
|
 |
|
|
Arcyria stipata on
rotten Beechwood. Photographed October 2007 identified by Dr Bruce Ing. It is uncommon and another good record for Hainault
Forest. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Slime mould Arcyria stipata on
fallen beech
behind
the café 24th November 2018 Photo
© Brian Ecott, and above right after sporing showing
spore mass and broken capsules. 3rd December 2018 Photo © Raymond
Small |
|
|
|
|
Arcyria denudata |
|
 |
|
|
Slime mould
Arcyria denudata on fallen beech. Scan © Brian Ecott 15th
December 2018 |
|
|
|
|
Badhamia utricularis |
|
|
 |
|
| |