I wonder how that pretty slime mold is doing now.

I wonder how that pretty slime mold is doing now. Looked like Jewelry box in the forest last autumn.

 I'd like to report on the current situation of that slime mold called a yellow fuzz corn slime, which I posted on my blog on October 18th last year, with the title of "Slime molds called Jewelry Box in forest."

 This is an immature fruiting body of yellow fuzz corn slime on October 16th last year. It's a vivid vermilion color. I forgot to tell you, but its scientific name is Hemitrichia calyculata (=Hemitrichia clavata var. calyculata).

 As a matter of fact, in the following two photos, fruiting bodies were growing on the bottom half of the fallen tree trunk, so the actual condition are upside down in the photo.

 Maybe the pale yellow one is a more immature fruiting body?

Fruiting bodies turned dark brown in a few days as matured. But they seemed to remain unchanged during winter.

The diameter of fruiting bodies is less than one millimeter, it is very small. 

What looks a white semicircle on fruiting bodies is the reflection of the camera light.

 I went to see this slime mold again after 3 months on February 1st. this year. To tell the truth, I went there a few times by that time. But dark brown fruiting bodies still remained unchanged. So, I didn't expect any changes until spring.　

 Snow is piled up on a fallen tree trunk where the slime mold grew. On the underside of this trunk, I found some fruiting bodies of this slime mold. But those on the top and sides of the trunk have been lost probably by wind and rain.

 But looking closer, the outer membrane of the fruiting body head has broken, and the yellow capillitia appeared from inside. 

Capillitia are mass of filamentous or meshed structures within a fruiting body interspersed among spores.

 The yellow capillitia inside the fruiting bodies are filamentous. The spores of the slime mold are entangled in the capillitia. But even if the spores are dispersed in such cold weather, I think the spores will not germinate immediately, until spring.

 The outer membrane of fruiting bodies breaks only gradually in the above photos probably because the temperature is low during winter or the fruiting bodies are facing downwards, but when conditions are favorable, the outer membrane will break all at once and the whole yellow capillitia will appear like this.

I think this feature is the origin of its curious name, yellow fuzz corn slime mold. 

I took above 2 photos in June last year at about several hundred meters from the spot.