Key to the Orders of Myxomycetes

(modified for secondary students and to be used with Myxomycetes of Ohio, Keller and Braun)

1.a. Spores visible (and single) on outside of fruiting body at tips of hairlike

stalks ..............................................................................................(p.51) Ceratiomyxales

b. Spores are inside the fruiting bodies...................................................................... go to 2.

2.a. Fruiting bodies tiny, usually less than 0.5 mm tall, rarely up to 1.5 mm, always

forming stalked sporangia with a ball-shaped spore case, mostly

on living trees and vines; spores white, pinkish, or light brown in

mass ................................................................................................(p.70) Echinosteliales

b. Fruiting bodies larger and of various types and shapes, either stalked or not,

not with the above combination of characters ....................................... go to 3.

3.a. Capillitium (system of threads inside the spore mass) typically absent,

columella always absent and calcareous deposits always

absent .....................................................................................................(p.52) Liceales

b. Capillitium present as true threads; columella present or absent................. go to 4.

4.a. Spores light colored, white, yellow, gray, or red in mass; true

capillitium present, columella always absent, calcareous

deposits always absent........................................................................(p.76) Trichiales

b. Spores dark colored: black, violet-brown, dark purple-brown,

or dark red in mass............................................................................................ go to 5.

5.a. Calcareous deposits absent from fructification; stalk when present hollow or

partially filled with strands .........................................................(p.98) Stemonitales

b. Calcareous deposits present in fruiting bodies (except in Protophysarum and

Trabrooksia), also in either the peridium, capillitium, or stalk;

stalk when present calcareous and granular.............................(p.112) Physarales