Diderma niveum

Diderma niveum (Rost.) Macbr. N. Am
Slime-Moulds 100. 1899.
Chondrioderma niveum Rost. Monog. 170. 1874. Chondrioderma physaroides Rost. Monog. 170. 1874. Diderma albescens Phill. Grevillea 5: 114. 1877. Chondrioderma albescens Phill.; Massee, Monog. 209. 1892.
Sporangia gregarious or crowded, depressed-spherical and sessile on a constricted base, 0.7-1.8 mm. in diameter, varying to pulvinate and elongate, white or pale pinkish-buff; peridium double, the outer layer crustaceous, chalky, smooth, fragile, the inner layer delicate, persistent, membranous and often iridescent, yellowish or orange below; hypothallus scanty or none; columella large, globose or hemispheric, ochraceous to deep orange; capillitium abundant, the threads of two sorts, some purplish or dusky, coarse, uneven, with pale extremities, others delicate and colorless, often beaded with wart-like thickenings, all rather sparsely branched and anastomosing; spores black in mass, violet-brown by transmitted light, minutely roughened, 9-13 fi in diameter; Plasmodium white. Type locality: France.
Habitat: Dead twigs and plant debris, especially in mountainous regions.
Distribution: Michigan, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California: Europe.