File:A slime mould - Badhamia lilacina - geograph.org.uk - 1000612.jpg

English: A slime mould - Badhamia lilacina. In the immediate area where this photo was taken, not far from a footpath, there was more than one occurrence of these spore-producing bodies (sporangia), which were found clustered together on stems. Through a lens, the clusters resembled tiny bunches of grapes, while, individually, the sporangia were globular with an almost coppery sheen (this was a day of heavy rain, and the specimen shown here is also very wet). From top to bottom, the entire dark brown mass shown here measured only about five centimetres.

The habitat of Badhamia lilacina is "on vegetation emerging from the surface of Sphagnum bogs", and its distribution is "western and northern, in areas of high rainfall, where it is quite frequent" [Bruce Ing, "The Myxomycetes of Britain and Ireland – An Identification Handbook"]. The species is described as having "sessile sporangia, heaped in large clusters, globose, 0.4-0.5 mm diam, lilac-grey".

The same author's "A Census Catalog of the Myxomycetes of Great Britain and Ireland" (2nd ed., 2002) shows that B. lilacina has been recorded from this vice-county (Dunbartonshire), and from some neighbouring parts of western Scotland.

On the following day, I encountered, not far from this spot, an example of the vivid yellow plasmodial stage (an earlier stage) of the same species: 1606419; recent weather conditions must have been ideal for the development of the species in this area. The identification handbook cited above notes that "the bright yellow, aquatic plasmodium is far more conspicuous than the sporangia, which are very difficult to find in the field".