Slime Molds, Physarum polycephalum, Plasmodium

Product Details

Physarum polycephalum-plasmodium. The active stage of the life cycle, popular for observation of its amoeboid motion and cytoplasmic streaming. Supplied as plate culture on oatmeal agar. A group notable for its unwillingness to be neatly classified. Grouped with the Protista because their vegetative state is a mobile amoeboid mass, and with the fungi due to their production of fungus-like fruiting bodies. Like the fungi they also produce spores with cell walls. Slime-molds live primarily in moist habitats on decaying plant matter, consuming bacteria and other microorganisms. Physarum polycephalum develops bright orange-yellow plasmodia and is readily cultured so that all stages can be studied and observed. Takes 5 days to culture after receipt.