Lamproderma columbinum

Lamproderma columbinum (Pers.) Rost.; Fuckel, Jahrb. Nass
Ver. Nat. 27-28: 69. 1873.
Physarum columbinum Pers. Ann. Bot. Usteri 15: 5. 1795.
Trickia physaroides Schum. Enum. PI. Saell. 2: 210. 1803.
Stemonitis physaroides Alb. & Schw. Consp. Fung. 103. 1805.
Trichia columbina Poir. in Lam. Encyc. 8: 52. 1808.
Fulgia encaustica Chev. El. Paris ed. 2. 1: 347. 1836.
Lamproderma physaroides Rost. Monog. 202. 1874.
Lamproderma Schimperi Rost. Monog. 203. 1874.
Lamproderma iridescens Rost. Monog. Append. 25. 1876.
Lamproderma Crucheti Meylan, Bull, Soc. Vaud. Sci. Nat. 52: 96. 1918.
Lamproderma brevipes Meylan, Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sci. Nat. 56: 322. 1927.
Lamproderma subglobosum Meylan, Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sci. Nat. 56: 322. 1927.
Sporangia globose or ellipsoid, scattered or gregarious, 0.5-1 mm. in diameter, rich violet or purple with a metallic iridescence, the total height 2-3 mm. ; peridium membranous, persistent; stalk long, usually about three-fourths the total height, black, straight, subulate; columella cylindric, with a conic apex, or clavate, onethird to one-half the height of the sporangium; capillitium brownish-purple, originating from all parts of the columella, rigid, sparingly forked at the center, then anastomosing freely to form a large-meshed, open net; spores black in mass, smoky-brown by transmitted light, punctate, 1 1-14 p. in diameter; Plasmodium white, rarely yellow.
Type locality: Europe.
Habitat: Coniferous wood, mossy stumps and logs.
Distribution : Common in the United States east of the Mississippi and west of the Great Plains and in British Columbia; Europe; Tasmania.