flowers of tan

Slime molds are primitive organisms that resemble both protozoa and fungi, possessing true nuclei. They are found globally, thriving in dark, cool, and moist environments like forest floors, where they feed on bacteria, yeast, molds, and fungi.1

A common type, Fuligo septica, is known as "flowers of tan" due to its yellowish-brown fruiting bodies that often appear on spent tanbark. These organisms have a life cycle that includes a plasmodial stage, where they move in a fan shape, and a reproductive stage where they form intricate spore cases. Cellular slime molds, another type, exist as individual amoeboid cells that aggregate to form a multicellular structure from which a fruiting body can develop.2314