Now what???

[beac]

I think this must be my Year of The Odd Fungus! In addition to the usual ordinary mushrooms that pop up here and there in my pots, I already had one strange and new visitor in with my dying pansies (helpfully identified by Denninmi as "birds nest fungus") and today I found THESE minuscule little things sprouted around the stems of my recently transplanted purple ruffled basil (that turned green and purple while rooting in water due to not enough direct sun):







Penny placed to show scale. These things are T-I-N-Y!

So, can anyone tell me what my latest unplanned crop is?? :)


Perhaps I should mention that the pot held turnips earlier in the season and the soil was amended with worm poop and some fresh potting soil before the basil was planted.

[Denninmi]

1. Sorry, no clue on those.

They are cute, though.

[beac]

2. I'm just hoping they aren't the world's tiniest poison mushrooms.

:)

Since my funguru (you!) has no clue, I might have to head to the VA Coop Extention office and hope they might be able to identify.

Googling "teeny tiny fungus" or "teeny tiny mushroom" gets LOTS of VERY interesting hits, but no joy for my situation. ;)

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Are those just little brown balls at the top of tiny stems?

That is what is looks like from the pictures. Are they balls? I don't know what they are, but I will see if I can figure it out. Whatever they are, they sure are cute----and doing very well.

[beac]

4. I think you could call them balls.

This morning when I watered, they produced a cloud of brown "powder" (spores, I assume). It kind of looked like brown baby talcum.

Thanks for offering to help w/the research. I'm still coming up blank and the local cooperative extension office isn't answering their phone. :hi"

[Curmudgeoness]

5. The way that they acted with spore dispersal, it sounds like a kind

of puffball. I have never seen a puffball like this, but that is just what they do. Let us know if you find out what they are. I love fungi and these are intriguing.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I am going to call this---and I think I am at least close.

Dictydium cancellatum, Japanses lantern slime.

Take a look at this and see if this is it (if not exact, it has to be one of the closely related slime molds.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/dictydium/interesting/

My books say it is common and widely distributed across the US, but is not often seen because of it's size.

[beac]

7. Ding, ding ding! I think we have a winner!

Picture number four from your link looks almost identical to my wee things.

Odd that they are called "slime mold" as they aren't at all what I'd describe as slimy. If I'd been in charge, they'd be called "extremely very very tiny pin mold." ;)


Thanks for clearing up the mystery!

[Curmudgeoness]

8. OK, now stop with all the fungi already!

Actually, keep looking and looking closely. This was entertaining to me since I had never seen this either. And the birds nest fungi always make me smile.

And I am with you, slime mold is a classification that often does not seen descriptive of what you see. Those little guys were really cute, and slime.....not what I would consider cute.