large genus of true slime molds, accounting for about 20 percent of the species of the phylum Mycetozoa (Myxomycetes). Physarum polycephalum, a fast-growing species, is the most notable; it has been used widely in physiological experiments in protoplasmic streaming and nuclear behaviour. Physarum cinereum, which forms an ashy-gray coating on lawn grasses under special conditions of moisture and humidity, is unsightly but harmless and soon disappears.