GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

A slime mould - Physarum leucophaeum

Near a large man-made mound (NS3977 : Mound beside the River Leven), a single log was host to at least five different species of slime mould at the same time.

[These were: Link (Arcyria denudata), Link (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa), Link (Metatrichia floriformis), Physarum leucophaeum, and Link (Trichia persimilis). All but the second of those links shows the species on this log.]

The spore-producing bodies (sporocarps) shown here were partly concealed beneath a piece of peeling bark. The rounded top part is less than a millimetre across; through a lens, it is seen to be densely frosted with lime granules (in this context, "lime" refers to various calcium salts). The deeply-furrowed stalks are also lime-covered.

Some of the sporocarps show a brown interior, consisting of spores and of a network of colourless threads. This network has little pieces of lime at some of the nodes. (As is often the case, a microscopic examination was needed in order to identify the species.)

This is a very common species; according to "A Census Catalogue of the Myxomycetes of Great Britain and Ireland" (Bruce Ing, 2000) it has been recorded in all but one of the 112 botanical vice-counties — Link — of Britain, and from most of Ireland.

Such small organisms, which are often hidden away in leaf litter or in hollows on rotten logs, are easily overlooked, but a skilful photographer can capture their unique beauty: see Link (Physarum leucophaeum is shown in the first column of the third row).