2008
NT3707 : Pwdre ser - a slime mould?
taken 15 years ago, near to Craik, Scottish Borders, Scotland
Pwdre ser - a slime mould?
There had been a lot of correspondence with the Radio Scotland "Out of Doors" programme about jelly found on the hill. Here is a typical sample. Folklore has it that it is of meteoric origin, hence the Welsh name Pwdre Ser or star rot. It could be one of many species of slime mould, an unusual group of organisms, which at certain times in their life cycle form giant cells. Normally microscopic, amoeba like cells join up to form giant multi-nucleated cells. Each glob of jelly here is a single cell.
Traditionally classified as fungi, but now shifted out of the way into their own kingdom, these blobs and their microscopic originators move.
However much correspondence suggests that this is the unpalatable jelly from frog ovaries - the stuff that prevents frog spawn from being eaten. Predators eat the rest of the frog, but not the jelly. Fungal DNA has been found in the jelly, but this is probably decomposition fungi growing on the jelly.
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