Morels, Truffles and other Spring Mushrooms
by Michael W. Beug Email: beugm@evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA
Slide 58.
Many times in the spring you spot what appears to be a bright yellow
Ramaria in the distance only to arrive and find a slime mold like this
forming plasmodial stage of Stemonitis. Only mycologists seem to get excited
about slime molds which really are not mushrooms at all but are a cross
between plant and animal that moves at up to 3 inches per minute engulfing
its food as it progresses. The Stemonitis plasmodial stage, shown here,
is fascinating in that under the thin outer skin, there are no cell walls,
just an undifferentiated mass of almost pure protoplasm.
Previous
Slide