Alison K. Pollack

Physarum viride, 2018

Computational close-up photograph
Sony a7R II DSLR camera; Laowa 25mm Ultra Macro lens; a composite of 30 images that were focus stacked

San Anselmo, California, United States

Shown in this photograph are the fruiting bodies, or sporangia, of the Myxomycete Physarum viride. They are about 1 millimeter tall. Myxomycetes, or slime molds, are a group of amoeboid protists that help decompose wood and plants; there are about 1,000 species documented worldwide. When mature, the sporangia are bright yellow, encrusted with lime. The caps of these sporangia have opened up to reveal the spore mass within; when fully dry, the spores will be dispersed by the wind. The plant was photographed in San Anselmo, California.