My sister and I were walking on a trail, hunting for some Morels after a much needed rain. We did not see any morels, however we did find a baby ecosystem called Deer Vomit. I like funga, a lot, and even this was a little gross to me. I won’t go deeply into a description as words won’t do it justice, but if you crossed white slime, with orange slime, some dead insects, and mixed in some bubbles, you would have deer vomit. I poked it with a stick – since that’s what you do with unknown organisms, and I kid you not, it burbled and spit at me. I left the stick.
What Is It?
So, from a nature perspective, it’s actually pretty cool. Deer vomit is made up of yeast, funga, and bacteria. Several sources said that if you tested different batches of it, the makeup would come up differently each time, so it is truly it’s own little ecosystem. From reports, it seems to show up in the spring, usually after a pruning and a rain when it’s a bit cooler outside, in this case it was in the 70s.
When the tree is pruned, sap starts to flow to try to hear the pruning scars. Because who doesn’t like sugar, the sap quickly becomes colonized by the funga (Fusicolla merismoides) and the sap yeast (Cystofilobasidium macerans). You may also find molds like Fusarium and that Acremonium present, but it can vary from sample to sample. When the funga starts to eat the yeast, the byproduct is carotene and that’s what causes the orange bubbles – yes, the same carotene that makes carrots orange. The bubbles in the structure are the byproduct of the yeast and the fermentation process, our friend carbon dioxide.
Fun Facts:
- People who are braver than I that get close enough to smell it say it smells like yogurt
- It is harmless to the trees, as the ground becomes less damp, and the temperature heats up it will simply dry out
- It is also referred to as a “fungal volcano” as you will see it drip to the ground from the original source
- Insects are attracted by the sugars in the sap and the yeast and will often become trapped in the “vomit”
Would I have liked to have found some morels – of course – but these guys were also super interesting and very fun to research. I will remind you of safety first when experiencing new organisms. The poke it with a stick method worked great in this case, you should not use this method with organisms that could come and poke you back. (snakes, bugs, birds…) When in doubt remember to be kind to nature and if you don’t know what something is, research it before going nuts with things like smelling, tasting, and touching.
Sources:
“Deer Vomit!”, TPWD Ranger Amy
“Deer Vomit and Sap Yeast”, iNaturalist (mmiller’s journal)
“Deer Vomit Fusicolla merismoides”, iNaturalist
“Deer Vomit – Fusicolla merismoides”, Mushroom Monday – Aubrey
“Fusicolla merismoides – deer vomit”, TexasMushrooms.org
“Fusicolla Orange Slime on Trees”, Joey Williamson
“Orange Goo – Dramatic but Harmless.”, Tom Creswell
“Tree slime, stump flux and microbial consortia”, Cornell Mushroom Blog
Close Up Images:
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