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Article: Slime molds are ugly but harmless to plants.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- September 27, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Q. Help! This very disgusting creamy-tan-colored foamy stuff keeps showing up on top of the wood chips I use as mulch. I have washed it off repeatedly, and it just comes back. Is it hurting anything, and how do I get rid of it?
A. The unlovely, but very interesting, mass that you have found growing in your mulch is known as a Myxomycetes, or plasmodial slime mold _ one of the 700-plus known to exist. The Greek word myxa (slime) and myketes (fungi) were first used in the 1800s to describe this group. There has been debate whether these organisms are plants or animals, as they have characteristics of both fungi and amoebas.
The slime mold might look ...