Chocolate Tube Slime
Widely distributed in North America this slime mold is supposed to be common and abundant. At least according to my Audubon mushroom field guide. I can’t remember ever seeing any but I am sure I never photographed some before today.
Chocolate Tube Slime – Stemonitis splendens
This yummy goodness grows on dead wood and leaves. The Chocolate Tube Slime I found today was growing on a log (in a bed of Poison Ivy). The yellow/orange colored growth between them is Dog Vomit Slime Mold – Fuligo septica. I get to that another day. You have more than enough to swallow already.
This is the final stage of growth. It began as a white Plasmodium mass and ended up contrary to it’s name – the chocolate tubes are dry and ‘dusty’ with spores. Notice the wood stained brown around the tubes by all the spores.
I found there’s still plenty of ‘chocolate powder’ left in these tubes and got it all over my finger.
Not the best macro ever photographed but it gives you some more detail with the tubes against my finger.
Reach out and touch someone.
I’ll leave you in my spore cloud. Again not the best photograph but it gives you an idea how easy it was to produce a cloud of spores. All I had to do was tickle it.
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July 16th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I’ve never seen that slime mold! How cool, especially that you can find it in July where you are. It’s too dry here. Looks like a mix of chocolate spaghetti and cocoa powder
July 17th, 2010 at 10:07 am
I have seen chocolate tube slime once and got pictures. It had the tubes, but they were still soft and not quite ready to spread their spores. I LOVE slime molds.
July 19th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
I think it’s weird that 2 people who don’t know each other and don’t live near each other were thinking about Chocolate Tube Slime Mold at roughly the same time!!!
Wonderful! You did it much better than me.
Nanina
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:41 am
Hi Wiseacre, Your photos are beautiful. The slime mold reminds me of sea anemones; the one Nemo the clownfish lived in. Like the way you ‘dare to’ articulate.
May 16th, 2011 at 8:27 am
Great pics! Did the chocolate tube slime have an odor? Last week I started noticing a peculiar odor as I raised the garage door. After checking the garbage as the source and finding that it was not the source, I noted a strange blob coming out of the aluminum facing of garage door and the brick wall. I took a broom to knock it down and found chocolate tube slime. It was sporing and released the spores just as your pics show. Actually I did not know what it was but assumed it was either mushroom or mold. I identified it using the National Audubon Society Field Guide North American Mushrooms. We live near where the Mississippi has crested last weekend. The Bird’s Eye Levee was blown by the Army Core of Engineers in the week before my discovery. I assume the unusual wetness triggered the slime mold to grow and sporulate. You’ve helped validate my discovery. Thanks.