Day 253: Lycogala epidendrum (commonly known as "Wolf's-milk") was the first slime mold ever to be described botanically, and I say "botanically" with some reservation. Linnaeus could be excused for thinking it was a fungus; indeed, he initially called it "Lycoperdon" to include it with puffballs, but modern science is equipped with better tools. We now understand that slime molds are a very different breed of cat from any other form of life, although like all fertile living things, they reproduce, or at least are capable of reproduction. They begin their lives as single cells, able to move about in an amoeba-like fashion. At this stage, they can reproduce by means of cell division, asexually, but when they encounter a cell of the proper mating type, they may fuse and reproduce via nuclear division (as opposed to cell division). Given ideal conditions, they will then form fruiting bodies like these. A fresh Lycogala is pinkish-orange. As the fruiting body matures, it darkens and dries out (middle photo), then ruptures, releasing thousands of unicellular spores to start the process over again (lower photo).
In a well-publicized quote from slime mold expert John Tyler Bonner, he explains the unusual nature of Myxomycetes: (they are) "no more than a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath, yet they
manage to have various behaviours that are equal to those of animals who
possess muscles and nerves with ganglia - that is, simple brains." They're out there. They're breeding. Are you really sure you want to go for a walk in the woods today?
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