Jonathon PorrittLamproderma scintillans
“To see a world in a slimy mould, and heaven in such taxonomical delight.
To hold infinity at creation’s threshold, and eternity in hues so bright”.
Apologies to William Blake. But I think he’d approve. Grains of sand have nothing on the magical, still utterly mysterious world of myxomycetes, shape-shifting and spore-spewing all but invisibly on forest floor, leafy litter and damp forgotten corners all but everywhere.
Let me come clean. I’ve chosen “Lamproderma Scintillans” as the species I would most want to stand beside as we claim our places on the ark not because it’s particularly rare – as in endangered, hurtling towards extinction’s edge.
It’s not rare like that. It’s rare because so few people are even aware of the existence of slime moulds, of their extraordinary properties, of their ‘niche’ in the various ecosystems in which they thrive. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of slime mould species out there, but it’s only that tiny number that have been predictably anthropomorphized with catchy monikers like ‘Dog’s Vomit’ (see …..) or ‘Scrambled Egg’ or ‘Demon Faeces’.
For a few minutes of unadulterated slime mould porn, just check out Barry Webb’s utterly entrancing gallery (www.barrywebbimages.co.uk), including several different Lamproderma Scintillans. Barry is a celebrated member of the Buckinghamshire Fungus Group – not that slime moulds are fungi, as any fule kno. (Apologies to Nigel Molesworth).
This too is what ‘rare’ means. These quixotically dedicated interpreters of the world of slime moulds are themselves all too rare, protecting the natural world through passionate inquiry and insight.
Four such experts have inducted me into the inner world of myxomycetes over the years – twice in Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire (a very long time ago), and twice in the Forest of Dean, just down the road from where I now live in Cheltenham. And I’ve fossicked around on many an occasion, on my own, with embarrassingly scanty results.
But over 50 years as a campaigning environmentalist, it’s this strange world which now best captures the essence of biodiversity. The ‘charismatic megafauna’ has never done it for me in quite the same way!
Photos: www.barrywebbimages.co.uk