Kim Fleming's Alien Landscapes

Kuriositas blog features Kim Fleming’s remarkable macrophotography of slime mold. The photos are taken within an 86 acre plot of land that includes creeks, a pond, woods and field in Abbeville County, South Carolina.

Tubifera ferruginosa, aka red raspberry slime, has fruitbodies that are bunched together like the fruit. The above specimen is about one centimeter across and these can form up to fifteen centimeters.

These look as if they should be in an aquarium but they grow on the surface of a piece of wood. Like fungi they form spore bearing structures that look like those of the real thing.

The spore cases of these cribraria cancellata are empty. The spores would have been a reddish purple color but have long since been released to the wind. This one can reach a massive four millimeters in height.

See more slime mold wonderfulness and other nature macrophotography at Kim Fleming's Flickr Photo Stream