This Waterfall
deserves a name.
We came to the base of a surprising waterfall, where a stream crashes about 30 metres over a basalt rock face. (Height adjusted - I got mixed up with my estimation of units. About twice the height of the local trees. DJW)
ThIs is the stream which flows behind the Pie Shop, and flows under the Illawarra Highway, beside the railway crossing bridge. The road sign says it is the poetically named "Macquarie Rivulet". The stream then veers through some really dense rainforest, then within 300 metres distance, it crashes over this little cliff.
Jim, showed me on the map that the Macquarie Rivulet really is not the creek which bears this name (on the road sign). In fact the stream of that name originates close to the corner where Tourist Road starts.
The trouble is, that leaves this little waterfall as an un-named waterfall on an un-named creek. That seems a shame. This pretty waterfall deserves a name.
*****
Does this fungus have a name?There was another small surprise in this little forest patch.
The darkest little "toadstool" which I have ever seen. Black-brown above, and black-brown in the gills too.I can find no illustration in my fungi reference books to match this little mystery fungus.
2 comments:
Perhaps the waterfall ought to remain unnamed. Perhaps that's why it could be a 'mystery'. Perhaps few people know of it. I think there is a balance sometimes where only a small number of people should know. Then large numbers can't come and wreck something beautiful. The people who do know need to be vigilant, however, because the powers that be may know, they may have wrecking designs, and the few who know can then be an alert vanguard to warn others. You may recall that this is what has happened with the site of the Wollemi Pine. Now whether that should be the case if your fungi is unkown is debatable. Perhaps the fungi, if rare, needs to be known and identified but its situation might remain a well-kept secret. The nature of well-kept secrets?
Nice point, Miss Eagle. Something romantic about an un-named falls of this size. In "Upper Gully", perhaps it would be a tourist attraction. This one is only accessible via private property, so it is well protected.
Fungi attract less attention than they deserve, because their taxonomy is so complex. Hundreds, if not thousands of as-yet undescribed species, etc. And the fact that I could not find it in my books is no big deal. Only the main species, and the extremely photogenic ones, are in the books.
Also, as fungi are so ephemeral, lots of people take little or no notice of them. I love them for their wonderful "architecture".
Denis
Post a Comment