Yellow Slime Mold in Sunflower Garden

This morning, the mold of the day is YELLOW! It is a yellow slime mold that I found in my sunflower garden.

Yellow Slime Mold aka Dog Vomit aka Physarum polycephalum
In My Sunflower Garden ~ JaguarJulie

I previously have written about the pink slime mold that I was seeing a lot of in the sunflower garden. Before I starting seeing so much of the pink stuff, I had seen the yellow slime mold a few consecutive mornings.

Then, it was a couple weeks of the pink stuff before I saw the yellow return. Kind of strange, you know?

Yellow Slime Mold aka Dog Vomit aka Physarum polycephalum
In My Sunflower Garden ~ JaguarJulie

There's another picture of the yellow slime mold. It really does look like dog or cat vomit! Looking to the lower left of the picture, there is a lighter spot with a hint of yellow ... I think that is more of it in a another stage of development.

YELLOW IS THE MOST COMMON

"One of the most commonly encountered slime molds is the yellow Physarum polycephalum." ~ Slime molds according to Wikipedia.

THE PLASMODIUM

Did you know that the plasmodium is "the active, streaming form of slime molds." I believe that is the phase you are seeing in the two pictures. "It is during this stage that the organism searches for food. The plasmodium surrounds its food and secretes enzymes to digest it." ~ Physarum polycephalum according to Wikipedia.

I wonder if there is some correlation between the appearance and feeding patters of the pink slime mold vs. the yellow slime mold? Thus far, I've not seen both of those at the same time in my sunflower garden. It's either one or the other!