Physarum newtonii

On decaying ground leaves, with stalked sporocarps up to 1 mm in total height, with a subglobose sporotheca 0.5 to 0.7 mm in diameter, lilac to purple, darker at the base; stipe short, only up to 0.4 mm, dark violaceous red, longitudinally striate, with black spore mass.

Peridium single, membranaceous, with pinkish-violaceous calcium deposits, irregularly dehiscent, persisting at the base as a disc or shallow cup.

Columella absent.

Capillitium filamentous, slender, hyaline or with faint pinkish intracellular pigment, interconnecting large irregular nodules of a white to pinkish color.

Spores globose, dark violaceous brown with a paler zone under the microscope, 9.5 to 11.5 µm in diameter, very slightly verrucose, ornamented with an irregular mass of darker warts or spines.

Herbarium material available: JTP2314/24.