Geograph - photograph every grid square

A slime mould - Lycogala epidendrum

These are the sporocarps of Lycogala epidendrum, found on a log beside a NS3977 : Path through the woods. When mature, they are darker: NS3984 : A slime mould - Lycogala epidendrum.

This species and L. terrestre (NS3781 : A slime mould - Lycogala terrestre and NS3878 : A slime mould - Lycogala terrestre) used to be lumped together under the name L. epidendrum. The species differ in maximum size, in the colour of the plasmodium (see below) and of the spore mass, in the details of the pattern of scales on the surface, and in microscopic features.

These solid sporocarps developed from an earlier stage, the plasmodium: NS3977 : A slime mould - Lycogala species (plasmodium), which is mobile and more liquid in appearance (see Link for more details). The present photograph shows some of the dark red plasmodium (as a droplet at the upper left of the sporocarp that is at the centre of the image).