''Didymium spongiosum'', also known as dog sick slime mold, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
true slime mold in the order
Physarales
Physarales is an order of Amoebozoa in the class Myxomycetes. It contains three families, the Didymiaceae, the Lamprodermataceae, and the Physaraceae. Physarales was circumscribed by Thomas Huston Macbride and published in 1922.
Undescr ...
.
Before reclassification in 2023 it was known as ''Mucilago crustacea''.
Due to its visual resemblance to canine vomit,
it is known colloquially as the "dog sick slime mould"
or "dog sick fungus",
albeit that slime moulds are not true fungi.
The fruiting body is yellow to white, becoming paler with time, and then blackening.
It usually occurs on damp grass.
The species was described by P. Micheli ex F.H. Wigg.
[Prim. fl. holsat. (Kiliae): 112 (1780)]
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q123199692, from2=Q1951637, from3=Q11937773
Myxogastria