Stemonitis sp. (genus) (A slime mould)

The Stemonitis genus is quite distinctive, characterised by its tall brown sporangia on slender stalks which grow on rotting wood.  This species is sometimes referred to as ’ Chocolate Tubes’ as it looks like brown hairs growing on the wood.

Although many slime mould species fruit on wood they do not form a penetrating and absorptive mass of hyphae in the wood substrate. Rather, slime moulds form structures called plasmodia which are naked (i.e., without cell walls) masses of protoplasm which can move and engulf particles of food in an amoeboid manner. Slime mould plasmodia creep about over the surfaces of materials, engulfing bacteria, spores of fungi and plants, protozoa, and particles of nonliving organic matter. At some point, plasmodia convert into spore-bearing structures. In Stemonitis, the plasmodium  converts into a clustered mass of stalked sporangia.

The plasmodium of this genus appear in a variety of colours, but, it is impossible to identify this to species until it is mature and microscopy studies can be undertaken.