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 Physarum licheniforme
SynonymsPhysarum didermoides var. lividum
Physarum lividum
BiostatusPresent in region - Indigenous. Non endemic
Article: Stephenson, S.L. (2003). Myxomycetes of New Zealand. Fungi of New Zealand. Ngā Harore o Aotearoa 3: xiv + 238 p. Hong Kong: Fungal Diversity Press.
Description: Fruiting body a sessile sporangium, crowded and often in large groups, globose to subglobose, 0.3–0.6 in diameter. Hypothallus colourless, sometimes encrusted with white lime. Peridium consisting of a single layer, colourless or sometimes encrusted with lime and then pale grey or blue-grey, rough, dehiscence irregular, with the basal part persisting as a cup with an irregular rim. Columella absent. Capillitium consisting of numerous rounded, white lime nodes connected by hyaline threads, the nodes usually united in the centre to form a pseudocolumella. Spores black in mass, dark purple brown in transmitted light, with a distinctive pale area, covered with distinct, dark, rather dispersed warts, 11–12 µm in diameter. Plasmodium translucent white.
Habitat: Dead leaves and other types of plant debris; often reported as fruiting on straw.
Distribution: An apparently rare species that has been reported from widely scattered localities in Europe. First reported (as Physarum lividum) from New Zealand by Colenso (1891) based on a specimen from Hawkes Bay. Also known from Dunedin (Rawson 1937).
Notes: Several authors, including Lister (1925), Hagelstein (1944), and Martin & Alexopoulos (1969), considered Physarum licheniforme to represent nothing more than a variety of P. didermoides, but the former differs from the latter in having a peridium that consists of only a single layer, a sporangium that is always sessile, and spores with a distinctive pale area on one side.
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