Geograph - photograph every grid square

(Often listed and illustrated under the synonym Comatricha typhoides.)

These stalked structures are the developing sporangia (spore capsules) of a slime mould, Stemonitopsis typhina. Including the stalk, they are about 5mm high. They are growing on a wet, rotten piece of wood not far from a NS3977 : Path through the woods.

At the stage shown here, where the sporangia are not yet mature, they are very eye-catching. The photograph shows just part of a larger development that covered most of one side of the piece of wood.

A dark thread-like structure, a continuation of the stalk, runs up the axis of the sporangium: it is called the columella, and it is visible in the picture because the sporangia are still translucent at this early stage of development.

As they mature, the sporangia become darker, less gelatinous in appearance, and opaque: see NS3977 : A slime mould - Stemonitopsis typhina, taken a day later.