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Project Noah Nature School
Lycogala epidendrum
It is a species of plasmodial slime mould, also known as myxogastria or myxomycota, which is often mistaken for a fungus. They consists of ameboid cells united by a sheet of slime. They became visible when the form their fruting bodies to spread their spores. In this case, the fruiting bodies are called aethalia. These appear as small cushion-like blobs measuring about 3–15 millimetres in diameter. Colour is quite variable, ranging from pinkish-grey to yellowish-brown or greenish-black, with mature individuals tending towards the darker end. While immature they are filled with a pink, paste-like fluid. With maturity the fluid becomes a powdery mass of minute gray spores.
On a dead pine tree
In the second picture one aethalium is broken, liberating the pinkish spores. Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/60 sec. f/32; ISO Speed Rating: 200. Exposure Bias: 0 EV. Focal Length: 90.0 mm.
Spotted on Jan 14, 2014
Submitted on Jan 14, 2014
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