English: A slime mould - Physarum leucophaeum. Near a large man-made mound (1470482), a single log was host to at least five different species of slime mould at the same time.

[These were: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1493931 (Arcyria denudata), https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1468765 (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa), https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1493934 (Metatrichia floriformis), Physarum leucophaeum, and https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1524494 (Trichia persimilis). All but the second of those links shows the species on this log.]

The spore-producing bodies (sporocarps) shown here were partly concealed beneath a piece of peeling bark. The rounded top part is less than a millimetre across; through a lens, it is seen to be densely frosted with lime granules (in this context, "lime" refers to various calcium salts). The deeply-furrowed stalks are also lime-covered.

Some of the sporocarps show a brown interior, consisting of spores and of a network of colourless threads. This network has little pieces of lime at some of the nodes. (As is often the case, a microscopic examination was needed in order to identify the species; simply comparing a photograph of its macroscopic appearance with that of other species does not allow for accurate identification.)

This is a very common species; according to "A Census Catalogue of the Myxomycetes of Great Britain and Ireland" (Bruce Ing, 2000) it has been recorded in all but one of the 112 botanical vice-counties – http://www.fieldmycology.net/GBCHKLST/ViceCounties.htm – of Britain, and from most of those in Ireland.