What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Slime Molds in all their colorful glory!
What Scientists think about Slime Mold today:
Today, biologists no longer think of slime mold like an embryo: It is more like a society of amoebas that come together for a common cause, for which some will sacrifice themselves.
The organisms respond to starvation by rushing together by the thousands into a single blob. The blob stretches out into a slug-shaped mass about one millimeter long (one twenty-fifth of an inch), which then crawls like a worm toward light.
Once it reaches the surface of the soil, the slug undergoes another transformation: Some of the cells turn into a stiff stalk, while the others crawl to the top and form a sticky ball of spores, about a millimeter per hour, to feed on microorganisms living in decaying plant material. . They stick to the foot of an animal and travel to a hospitable place.
Inside the slug like structure, about 1 percent of the amoebas turn into police. They crawl through the slug in search of infectious bacteria. When the amoebas find a pathogen, they devour it. These sentinels then drop away from the slug, taking the pathogen with it. They then die of the infection, while the slug remains healthy.
When the slug is ready to make a stalk, more amoebas must die so that others can live. They climb on top of one another and transform their insides into bundles of cellulose. Twenty percent of Dictyostelium cells die this way, allowing the survivors to climb up their lifeless bodies and become spores.
Can you eat Slime Mold?
Sadly Not edible. There are reports that it is eaten in Mexico, however after some research I found that it was aother fungi talked about.. This species is not known to cause sickness in humans, but lets be honest, how many people have eaten it? The many dusty spores can irritate people with allergies, asthma, or other respiratory conditions.
