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20.03.2023 Lepyrodia scariosa

20/21.03.2023 There is some doubt that the photos are of Utricularia ulignosa and could be yet another newly discovered species in the Clarence Valley. Utricularia ulignosa flowers are pale blue or purplish. there are a number of other fine points to show differences.

Enlargement of the 4mm flower.

Leaf scale half way along the raceme.

20.03.2023 Fimbristylis nutans

20.03.2023 Fimbristylis cinnamometorum

14.03.2023 Antidesma erostre flower photographs

13.03.2023 Balta spuria on Austrostipa pubescens

13.03. 2023 Rearranged flower photos & added two photos of Thysanotus tuberosus.

12.03. 2023 Fungi Autumns Beauties

It is estimated that in Australia to have over 160,000 to 250,000 species of fungi of which fewer than five per cent have been described. Of those already described, only a few are toxic to the point of causing death. Several can cause from severe to mild nausea and diarrhoea. “Fungimap does not encourage eating wild Australian mushrooms because so little is known about their edibility and many poisonous species are virtually indistinguishable from safe varieties.” Death Cap mushrooms Amanita sp. of which Amanita phalloides is considered to be the deadliest, Yellow-staining mushrooms Agaricus xanthodermus, Ghost Fungus Omphalotus nidiformis and Poison Pie, Hebeloma crustulinoforme.

All the photographs below have been taken on our organic block at The Pinnacles NSW except for the Trametes sp., which was taken in Jiang Bei Shan western China and and the Nectria sp. Sha Ping Ba China. let’s look at some of the great variations commonly found in Australia.

Amanita farinacea

Classification:

Kingdom: Fungi

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Family: Pluteaceae

Genus:  From Amanítēs, which is Ancient Greek for a type of fungus. It refers to various saprotrophic and Agaricaceous fungi, which have white gills and a broken membranous ring (volva) around the stipe. Many of which are highly toxic and contain the peptides that can dissolve protein in the liver and kidneys.

Specie: From Farinaceous, which is Latin for mealy or floury in appearance. It refers to structures or organs which have a mealy or slightly scaly like mealy texture.

Sub species:

Common Name:

Distribution:

Amanita farinacea is found south from Cairns in far north eastern Queensland to Victoria and west to Inman Bay in southern South Australia. It occurs on and east of the Great Dividing Range to the coast. 

It may be restricted to the far north west corner of Tasmania.

https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Amanita+punctata+#tab_mapView

Habitat Aspect Climate:

Amanita farinacea prefer dappled shade beneath dry sclerophyll forests to moist dry rainforests. It has been found from sea level to around 700 meters ASL.

The temperatures range from minus 2 degrees in August to 40 degrees in January.

The rainfall ranges from lows of 800mm to 3000mm average per annum.

Soil Requirements:

Amanita farinacea prefer most light gritty clays, medium clays or heavy clays. The soils are usually derived from decomposed brown basalt, podsolics, shale, metamorphic or alluvial deposits. The soils pH. ranges from 5pH to 7.5pH. It does not tolerate water logged soils however plants are always associated with good soil moisture. Non saline soils to moderately saline soils are tolerated.

Height & Spread:

Wild Plants: 70mm to 100mm in diameter by 70mm to 120mm in height.

Characteristics:

Amanita farinacea has a chalky white, umbonate to plano-convex pileus. The pileus margin is slightly incurved and plicate. The margin is nonsulcate, appendiculate and crisped. The center is pulverulent-verrucose from remnants of the volva; and the margin has thin, pulverulent, crust-like areas. The pileus measure 70mm to 100mm in diameter. The gills are crowded, free, moderately broad, white, and becoming yellowish with age.

The white spores measure 9µm to 10.5µm by 6.5µm to 7µm to 9µm and are subglobose to ellipsoid. Clamps are abundant at bases of basidia.

The white stipe measures 70mm to 100mm in length by 12mm in diameter and is of equal diameter throughout the length of the stipe. The stipe is exannulate, somewhat fibrillose or mealy with a rather thick, subflocculose volva rim between 10mm and 12mm from the underside of the gills.

The white flesh bruises to a pale greyish-yellow.

Wildlife:

Amanita farinacea is unknown.

Edibility or Toxicity:

Amanita farinacea is toxic to humans and can cause death.

Beware of Amanita farinacea pure white innocence

Amanita pyramidifera

Classification:

Kingdom: Fungi

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Family: Pluteaceae

Genus:  From Amanítēs, which is Ancient Greek for a type of fungus. It refers to various saprotrophic and agaricaceous fungi, which have white gills and a broken membranous ring (volva) around the stipe. Many of which are highly toxic and contain the peptides that can dissolve protein in the liver and kydneys.

Specie: From Pyramidalis, which is Latin for a pyramid and Ferae/Ferārum, which is Latin for to bear or bearing. It refers to structures or organs, which bear numerous small pyramid shaped warts or scales.

Sub species:

Common Name:

Distribution:

Amanita pyramidifera is probably found south from Tewantin in south eastern Queensland to Lane Cove National Park in central Coastal New South Wales. It occurs on and east of the Great Dividing Range to the coast. 

https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Amanita+pyramidifera+#tab_mapView

Habitat Aspect Climate:

Amanita pyramidifera is a mycorrhizal fungi that prefers dappled shade beneath drier Eucalyptus forests, sclerophyll woodland forests. It is found from sea level to around 200 meters ASL.

The temperatures range from 2 degrees in August to 38 degrees in January.

The rainfall ranges from lows of 700mm to 1200mm average per annum.

Soil Requirements:

Amanita pyramidifera prefer most light gritty clays, medium clays or heavy clays. The soils are usually derived from decomposed black basalt, podsolics, shale, metamorphic or alluvial deposits. The soils pH. ranges from 5.5pH to 7.5pH. It does not tolerate water logged soils however plants are often associated with good soil moisture and seasonal flooding. Non saline soils to moderately saline soils are tolerated.

Height & Spread:

Wild Plants: 80mm to 210mm in diameter by 70mm to 140mm in height.

Characteristics:

Amanita pyramidifera has a chalky white to pale creamy-white pileus. Initially the pileus is spherical, eventually forming the typical plano-convex to almost flat form. The annulus ring often remains appendiculate around on the upper pileus. The pileus is densely covered in the remnants of the annulus ring which form pyramidal scales or warts.

The gills are free, thin, white to cream with the short gills (lamellulae) in a 2 series.

The stipe measures 50mm-100mm by 15mm-22mm in diamere. The base is somewhat bulbous, white to slightly off-white, textured with fine rows of very short upright flat scales and ridges; base and on top of swollen base ornamented with pyramidal (conical) warts as on cap though smaller.

The spore print isWhite subglobose to broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid spores are the smallest in the Amanita genus and measure 8µm to 13.5µm by 7µm to 7µm to 9µm.

Amanita pyramidifera is the only Amanita species without a persistent annulus ring.

The white flesh does not normally bruise but usually forms a pale yellowish stain.

Amanita pyramidifera appears to have a symbiotic relationship with Eucalyptus species in its habitat.

Wildlife:

Amanita pyramidifera is unknown.

Edibility or Toxicity:

Amanita pyramidifera is toxic to humans and can cause death.

Amanita pyramidifera is another one of the few Native toxic fungi

Let’s forget the fear and indulge in their beauty and mystery. Fungi are now establishing themselves in our society not just as decomposers and to a lesser extent food but in medicine. The variety of mushrooms seen in Australian supermarkets is very limited. Collecting edible fungi from the wild requires a good recognition of the edible species, along with the toxic look-alike species as well.

Agaricus campestris

Classification:

Kingdom: Fungi

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Family: Agaricaceae

Genus: From Agarikón, which is Ancient Greek or Agaricum, which is Latin for a town in Sarmatis. It refers to an old name for the edible mushroom which was originally found around the town that was probably derived from the Greek word Agarikon.

Specie: From Campestre, which is Latin for a plain or other flat level ground. It refers to plants, which prefer flat open type country to grow on.

Sub species: Agaricus campestris var campestris. From Campestre, which is Latin for a plain or other flat level ground. It refers to plants, which prefer flat open type country to grow on.

Sub species: Agaricus campestris var. sylvicolus. From Sylvāticum, which is Latin for a forest, Kola, which is Ancient Greek or Cola, which is Latin for to dwell or reside at. It refers to plants, which prefer to grow in, on the trees within a forest.

Common Name: Native Field Mushroom.

Distribution:

Agaricus campestris is found south from Blackbutt in south east Queensland to Victoria and west to Inman Bay in southern South Australia. It mainly occurs on and east of the Great Dividing Range to the coast.

In Western Australia it is restricted to the far south west corner.

Habitat Aspect Climate:

Agaricus campestris prefer full sun to light dappled shade. It is mainly found growing in moist pockets along the coast in open grass land with in open forests and woodlands to exposed headlands. It is found from sea level to around 900 meters ASL.

The temperatures range from minus 2 degrees in August to 36 degrees in January.

The rainfall ranges from lows of 700mm to 1600mm average per annum.

Soil Requirements:

Agaricus campestris prefer most light gritty clays, medium clays or heavy clays. The soils are usually derived from decomposed brown basalt, podsolics, shale, metamorphic or alluvial deposits. The soils pH. ranges from 5pH to 7.5pH. It does not tolerate water logged soils however plants are always associated with good soil moisture. Non saline soils to moderately saline soils are tolerated.

Height & Spread:

Wild Plants: 50mm to 100mm in diameter by 30mm to 100mm in height.

Characteristics:

Agaricus campestris has a white or creamy coloured pileus. It is first hemispherical in shape before flattening out with maturity. The gills are initially pink, then red-brown and finally a deep brown.

The spore print is chocolate brown.

The white to creamy stipe bulges slightly at the base and bears a single thin ring. It measures 30mm to 90mm in length by 18mm to 25mm in diameter.

The white flesh bruises a reddish brown, as opposed to yellow in the inedible and somewhat toxic and similar Agaricus xanthodermus and similar species. The thick-walled, elliptical spores measure 5.5–8µm by 4–5µm. Cheilocystidia are absent.

Wildlife:

Agaricus campestris is eaten by wallabies.

Edibility or Toxicity:

Agaricus campestris has a mild flavour and is the main field mushroom used in culinary dishes.

Further Comments from Readers:

Agaricus campestris is the common edible mushroom

Basidiocarps or as they are better known as Coral Fungi may range in color from bright yellow, red, or orange, to purple, white, and shades of tan. Ramaria fungi are coral-like mushrooms with multiple short, long, thick or thin branches. Their spores are ochre-yellow to brown-tinted and are ornamented with warts, striations or spines. There are probably around 100 Australian species of Ramaria of which, only nineteen have been scientifically described. Colour changes after bruising occur in some species, while in others no change is distinguished, making them very difficult to differentiate even for botanists yet alone us mere mortals.

Some important observable features include colour details, the shapes of the branched apices and branch axils, the texture of branches and whether or not there are rhizomorphs or aborted branches that have not developed.

In the two photos below note the differences between the branch lengths, thickness and the shape of the apices.

This Ramaria sp. has a delicate almost bland almond flavour. Personally they are much too beautiful to make a meal of.
Ramaria ochraceosalmonicolor is an unusual but edible fungi with a light almond flavour.

Scientists are turning more to nature for solutions to man-made environmental problems. Contamination from industry, mining, waste collection points like local landfills, and even our personal garden waste are relying more and more on fungi. I have written about phytomediation in higher order plants under Melastoma affine and ferns under Pteris vittata, but fungi using this technique is known as mycoremediation. Fungi can concentrate and store contaminating elements in their substance. Trametes sps. Are displaying good characteristics in breaking down paper products and petroleum products.

Trametes sp.

The beauty is what attracts most people to wander the bush during the wetter months of the year. Around Grafton that is usually Autumn in search of fungi.

Trogia sp. Trogia sp. on a fallen tree trunk. The genus are gilled mushrooms that lack partial veils and feature white, yellowish, or pinkish spore prints, to omphalinoid mushrooms with a decurrent gill attachment, a cartilage-like stem, a broad or depressed cap surface and lacking a ring and volva on the fruit body types. The fruit bodies are tough when dry, but can revive when moistened. The Australian species are usually found on rotting wood or woody material.
The immature fruit bodies of Phallus species grow underground as rough or smooth, white spherical to ovoid, soft or gelatinous surfaces. Conspicuous white thread like rhizomorphs extend from the base of the egg like structure and help to anchor it in the soil. The outer tissue layer, or peridium, is white to pale, smooth, firm-membranous. The stalks of Phallus mushrooms are called receptacles and are upright, cylindrical, hollow, spongy and bearing a splayed cap with irregularly, longitudinal branching ridges on the outer surface. Some species have an indusium, a net-like structure that extends from the cap of various lengths often to the ground. The slimy spore mass, or gleba, is attached to outer surface of the cap, and is coloured deep olive-brown to blackish brown. In several species the gleba has a carrion-like odour for attracting flies, aid in the dispersal of the spores. It has been notated that mosquitoes, which feed on the gleba are euthanised, suggesting the fungus may contain compounds that could be used as an attractant or biocontrol agent for mosquitoes and midges. Phallus spores are not airborne at any time in their life cycle.
This edible mushroom resembles undulating waves of tightly packed corals or loose Chinese fan. “Gillies” or “split gills” and vary from creamy yellow to pale white in colour. The cap is small, 10mm to 35mm in diameter with a dense yet spongey body texture. It is known as the split-gill mushroom because of its longitudinally divided nature of the “gills” on the underside of the cap. It is found in all tropical, subtropical and temperate regions on the planet. It is naturally found in the wild on decaying trees after rainy seasons followed by dry spells where the mushrooms are naturally collected. Schizophyllum commune is usually described as a morphological species of global distribution, but some research has suggested that it may be a species complex encompassing many cryptic species of more narrow distribution, as typical of many mushroom-forming Basidiomycota. This photo was taken on the trunk of Brachychiton acerifolium.

The caps measure 10mm to 45mm in diameter with white or white or pale grey hairs. It grows in shelf-like arrangements, without stalks. The gills, which produce basidiospores on their surface, split when the mushroom dries out, earning this mushroom the common name split gill. It is common in rotting wood. The mushrooms can remain dry for decades and then revived when water is again supplied.
It has 23,328 distinct distinct sexes (Homosapiens have 5) Individuals of any mating type are compatible pairing with most sexes apart from its own sex. There are two genetic loci determining the mating type, locus A with 288 alleles and locus B with 81 alleles. A pair of fungi will only be fertile if they have different A and different B alleles, that is, each mating type can enter fertile pairings with 22,960 others.
und in Australia Nectria is a genus of Ascomycete fungi. They are most often encountered as saprophytes on decaying wood but some species can also occur as parasites of trees, especially fruit trees. Prunus species like the apple are susceptible. Some species are significant pests causing diseases such as apple canker, Nectria twig blight, and coral spot in orchards. Unfortunately the parasitic few give the majority a bad name as most are found on well decaying timber on the forest floor, or like the one seen here over rocks covered in a Lemma specie.
It is ubiquitous in cool temperate Europe and North America. there are a few species found in Australia. The genus contains around 80 species.
Then there are the arms of Aseroe rubra reaching out for love until you get too close and its bad breath will blow you away. the common name of stink horn or stinking starfish fungi are apt. The white egg stage is edible, apparently only for discerning taste buds.

It is a fairly common fungus, which is widely distributed in Australia from south eastern Queensland through New South Wales, eastern Victoria and Tasmania. Aseroe rubra grow as underground or partially underground, smooth, white spherical to ovoid, soft whitish egg-shaped structure, which measure 25mm t040mm in diameter. These white spheres break open as the hollow, white stalk, with reddish arms erupts and grows to a height of 80mm to 120mm in height When mature the reddish or orange star shaped arms that number 6 to 10 will measure 30mm to 40mm in length. These arms are bifid, deeply divided into two limbs. The top of the fungus is covered with dark olive-brown slime known as gleba, which smells of rotting meat. There is a cup-shaped volva at the base that is the remnants of the original egg. Flies are attracted to the gleba and distribute the spores. It has been notated that mosquitoes, which feed on the gleba are euthanised, suggesting the fungus may contain compounds that could be used as an attractant or biocontrol agent for mosquitoes and midges. Phallus spores are not airborne at any time in their life cycle.

Colus species are another another group of unusual fungi found where forest litter is abundant. Here again the white egg stage is edible, apparently only for discerning taste buds. It is commonly known as the craypot stinkhorn or basket stinkhorn. The vivid to pale red, pink or orange wrinkled arms emerge from the egg like gleba and connect to form a cage or basket like structure. This fungus is truly saphrophytic gaining its nutrient from course forest litter. Thus as a consequence it frequently appears on garden mulches.

Like all stinkhorns, the fruit body of Colus begins as an egg-like structure. They are anchored to the substrate by one or more root-like rhizomorphs: thickened mycelial strands. The membrane of the “egg” soon ruptures, releasing the rapidly expanding mature receptacle, which measures 100mm to 150mm in height. The top of the fungus is covered with dark olive-brown slime known as gleba, which smells of rotting meat. There is a cup-shaped volva at the base that is the remnants of the original egg. Flies are attracted to the gleva and distribute the spores. It has been notated that mosquitoes, which feed on the gleba are euthanised, suggesting the fungus may contain compounds that could be used as an attractant or biocontrol agent for mosquitoes and midges. Phallus spores are not airborne at any time in their life cycle.
Cyathus stercoreus or dung nest fungus, is another delightful little bush dweller with curious method of ejecting its large spore.

The fruiting bodies, or perida, are funnel or barrel-shaped, which measure 6mm to 15mm tall by 4mm to 8mm in diameter at the mouth. They are sometimes short-stalked, golden brown to blackish brown in age. The outside wall of the peridium know as the ectoperidium, is covered with tufts of fungal hyphae is covered in short, grey often caduceus, tomentose hairs. The internal wall of the cup, the endoperidium, is smooth and grey to bluish-black. The 8 to 20 glossy black discs (peridioles) in each compartment measure 1.5mm to 2mm in diameter, The peridioles are often attached to the fruiting body by a funiculus, a structure of hyphae that is differentiated into three regions: the basal piece, which attaches it to the inner wall of the peridium, the middle piece, and an upper sheath, known as the purse, connected to the lower surface of the peridiole. In the purse and middle piece is a coiled thread of interwoven hyphae called the funicular cord, attached at one end to the peridiole and at the other end to an entangled mass of hyphae called the hapteron.

Well I have whetted my appetite for more fungi so best be off. Good fungi hunting and please share your finds with me and fellow readers.

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In the spirit of reconciliation we acknowledge the Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl and all aboriginal nations throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and future for the pleasures we have gained.

Changes to Myoporum boninense added 5 photographs.

12.03.2023 Changed one and added one photo of Stenocarpus sinuatus.