by Jacob Crider
With heavy rains and warm temperatures, the forests at Creasey Mahan are exploding with color from various fungi and slime molds.
One of the most colorful and striking slime molds found in the woods is the Red Raspberry Slime Mold (Tubifera ferruginosa).
Slime molds are quite similar to fungi, but have a few differences that set them apart. While they reproduce similarly via spores, they do not penetrate the wood they grow like mushrooms, rather they sit atop of their chosen substrate using a structure called plasmodia, to consume microorganisms such as bacteria and fungal spores.
The stunning and bright raspberry red color of this slime mold sticks out like a sore thumb in the landscape, and can be seen on moist logs after heavy rains during the spring, summer, and fall.
Take a walk in our forest to see if you can spot some of our magnificent plasmodial slime molds, which have the highest diversity in the Little Huckleberry Creek Valley.
