Physarum crateriforme

Physarum crateriforme Petch. Ann. Bot. Gard
Peradeniya 4: 304. 1909.
Sporangia stipitate or occasionally sessile, globose, clavate or crateriform, 0.4-0.6 mm. in diameter, 1-2 mm. in total height, grayish-white or pale brown; stalk, when present, opaque, conic, black, or black below and white above; columella variable, sometimes cylindric and attaining the apex of the sporangium, sometimes shorter and then clavate or conic, concolorous with the stipe or paler, rarely lacking; capillitium strongly calcareous, the nodes either massed about the columella or rod-like and ascending; spores dull lilac, closely spinulose, 10-13 /x in diameter; Plasmodium dull ochraceous.
Type locality: Ceylon.
Habitat: Dead wood and herbaceous stalks and the bark of living trees. Distribution: Iowa, Kansas, Antigua; Europe; West Africa; southern and eastern Asia.