Isn't it neat? It's one of the slime 'molds', not a mold or a fungus though. It feeds on organic compounds found in soil, mulch, as dust, etc.

It will disappear on its own, after it has run out of energy. Not harmful to plants, people, or anything else.

I think rhizo means "run out of food and moisture."

Thanks Rhizo! It's good to know it's not harmful and that I don't need to treat it.

You may, or may not, want to know more about this "Fuligo septica" but here is a link to one of the better pages about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fuligo septica

You are welcome, pb821. There are zillions of different slime molds out there. I don't believe that yours is the infamous 'dog vomit' slime mold, but most of them tend to function in similar ways.

Kimmsr inadvertently linked a web site that illustrates an organism that is more closely related to what you have than Fuligo septica. It's the Physarum slime mold.

This particular species is more likely to found climbing over all kinds of things, including fence posts, aluminum cans, bottles, utility poles, house siding, etc. VERY peculiar, isn't it?

So rhizo you don't think a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin knows what he writes?

YUCK!! I have it too!!!! Its all over the place in my mulched beds and there is some actually growing around a sedum plant.

I noticed that it turns brown and just turns to dust after a while, but it looks horrible. I tried picking it up to get rid of it, and it just crumbles. Good to know its not harmful. Does it just come from the mulch yard, or is this something my yard produced?

That occurs when conditions are right for it. The "seeds" to produce this, as well as any fungal growth, are always present on any organic matter and when environmental conditions are right they grow, blossom, but they do no harm even though they can be something you would not like to look at.