Tubifera ferruginosa

Description

Tubifera ferruginosa is an inedible and one of the most distinctive and widespread slime molds because of its large size and bright red color when it first appears. The colors of this slim mold are very variable and can be from light pink to dark red, and when maturing, it turns dark.

Fruit bodies of the slime mold are crowded together and compressed, starting red and forming raspberry-like clusters. The cluster soon matures into a purplish and then brownish mass at maturity. This slime mold grows singly or in groups on old stumps, dead and soaked wood waste of coniferous and deciduous trees, and in wood stores at sawmills. Prefers spruce forests. It is one of the most widely known and distinct slime molds, being found throughout temperate regions of the world, primarily in Europe and North America.

The slime molds form structures called plasmodia which are naked (i.e., without cell walls) masses of protoplasm that can move and engulf particles of food in an amoeboid manner. Slime mold plasmodia creep about over the surfaces of materials, engulfing bacteria, spores of fungi and plants, protozoa, and particles of nonliving organic matter. At some point, plasmodia convert into spore-bearing structures.

The name "ferruginosa" comes from Ferrug-, meaning “rusty” or “rust”; and -osa, meaning “fullness” or “abundance”.

Common names: Raspberry Slime Mold, Red Raspberry Slime Mold, Lachsfarbener Schleimpilz (German), Kanel-støvrør (Denmark), Tubifère Rouillé (France), Zlepníček jahodovitý (Czech Republic).

Mushroom Identification

1. Fruit Bodies

   Individual sporangia are 3–5 mm high, 0.2–0.5 mm wide, cylindrical or club-shaped, rounded or flattened on the side, seated on a colorless hypothallus. They form dense clusters – pseudoaethalia 1–10 cm in diameter, in cross-section palisade.

2. Hypothallus

   The membranous base (hypothallus) is whitish to pale brown. However, it is later colored darker by the spores. It has a spongy structure and is often arched.

3. Peridia

   The shell (peridia) is preserved for a long time. It is thin and has a smooth, slightly shiny iridescent surface. In transmitted light and appears pale brown. The shell first tears at the apex and later opens up to the base.

4. Capillitium

   A braid of hair (capillitium) is usually not present. Thin threads that have grown together with the wall can rarely be found. They have spurs on them. The spores are brown in mass, reddish brown in transmitted light. They measure six to eight micrometers in diameter. There is a fine-meshed network on the surface, which is interrupted at the germinal pore.

5. Plasmodium

   The plasmodium is whitish at first but later turns orange-red to scarlet or deep pink. Before maturity, it is colored dark brown.

6. Spores

   Spore dust is brown, spores round, reticulated, reddish brown, 6–8 µm in size.

7. Odor and Taste

   The slime mold has no particular smell or taste.

8. Habitat

   Grows on dead coniferous wood from May to October. It can also be found on the ground on foliage and needles. Has a cosmopolitan distribution throughout Europe.

Different Similar Species Structures

1. a. Tubifera ferruginosa subsp. ferruginosa

2. b. Tubifera ferruginosa subsp. acutissima

3. c. Tubifera montana

4. d. Tubifera dudkae

5. e. Tubifera applanata

6. f. Tubifera magna

7. g. Tubifera pseudomicrosperma

8. h. Tubifera corymbosa

Synonyms and Varieties

• Licea cylindrica (Bull.) Fr.

• Licea clavata Schrad., 1797

• Licea effusa Ehrenb., 1818 p.p.

• Licea fallax

• Licea fragiformis (Bull.) Fr.

• Licea iricolor Zoll., 1847

• Licea rubiformis Berk. & M.A.Curtis, 1858

• Licea tubulina Schrad., 1797

• Lycoperdon favaceum Schrank, 1789

• Lycoperdon ferruginosum (Batsch) Timm

• Sphaerocarpus fragiformis Bull., 1791

• Stemonitis ferruginosa Batsch, 1786

• Tubifera cylindrica (Bull.) J. F. Gmel.

• Tubifera ferruginosa (Batsch) J. F. Gmel. var. ferruginosa

• Tubifera ferruginosa var. albostipitata Wichanský, 1962

• Tubifera ferruginosa var. complanata Meyl., 1931

• Tubifera ferruginosa var. subungulata Koaze, 1934

• Tubifera fragiformis (Bull.) J. F. Gmel.

• Tubifera speciosa

• Tubulifera umbrina Zopf, 1884

• Tubulina coccinea Trentep., 1797

• Tubulina conglobata Preuss, 1851

• Tubulina cylindrica (Bull.) DC.

• Tubulina cylindrica var. acuta Peck, 1890

• Tubulina fallax Pers., 1800

• Tubulina fragifera Poir., 1808

• Tubulina fragiformis Pers.

• Tubulina fragiformis var. clavata

• Tubulina fragiformis var. coccinea

• Tubulina fragiformis var. conica Pers., 1800

• Tubulina fragiformis var. operculata Pers., 1800

• Tubulina fragiformis var. papillata Pers., 1800

• Tubulina nitidissima Berk., 1881

• Tubulina speciosa Speg., 1881

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 2 - Author: walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Vik Nanda (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Björn S... (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photo 5 - Author: Stu's Images (CC BY-SA 3.0)