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High-fibre mousse

I found a strange substance growing between a pile of plastic sacks containing bark mulch and a wall in my garden (see photo, left). It was July and the sacks had been piled against the wall for some weeks. At first I thought it was a piece of foam plastic, but when I touched it the stuff had the consistency of mousse. You can see the reddish mark where I prodded it.The second photo is a close-up of one of the holes and the surrounding fibrous structure. The patch was about 17 centimetres long and during the course of the day it dried, went crumbly and turned more pink. Does anyone know what it is?Alistair Scott, Gland, Switzerland
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 Anonymous says:
this is a baby wasp nest
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posted on 2008-08-29 13:33:00 | Report abuse

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 Jon Webb says:
It is a slime mold, probably vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica). There are lots of photos on the web.A general rule here seems to be that if you discover something weird in your garden it is either a slime mold or fungus.Slime molds spend most of their lives moving around like a giant amoeba (a few mm to tens of cm across), consuming organic matter.When conditions are right they generally climb to a higher surface and reorganize into a fruiting body, like the one you found. The dry powdery material is spores.
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posted on 2008-08-29 15:30:00 | Report abuse

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 Anonymous says:
I'm just amazed that you had a plastic bag containing mulch and a wall.....
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posted on 2008-10-09 23:42:00 | Report abuse

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