SLIME MOULDS
TAPIOCA SLIME MOULD : Brefeldia maxima
‘Slime mould’ is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated organisms that can live freely as single cells, but some can also clump together to form larger structures (plasmodia). Once considered to be fungi, slime moulds are now recognised as a completely different kingdom of single-celled organisms, called protists, that more closely resemble amoeba. There are some 900 known species of slime mould worldwide, and there are likely to be hundreds more unknown species. They vary greatly in their colour, size and form. [RHS]
Also see MUSHROOMS, FUNGUS, LICHEN, MOULDS & SLIME MOULDS for more general descriptions and comparisons to mushrooms and fungi
An innocuous white mouldy stuff on a dead stick in the woods within the Vale of Leven Industrial Estate in November turns out to be Tapioca Slime Mould.
