Christmas Bells

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Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Friday, June 26, 2009

Fungi of Nowra

I have not had a chance to review these fungi yet - but I have decided to publish them - just to share with you the beauty of these creatures.

DJW Note: I have edited in comments from other Nature Bloggers - from JL, who publishes "Fungi of Great Western" and Gaye from the Hunter, who publishes "Australian Fungi - a Blog". These valuable contributions are shown in green.

It was a damp day on Sunday, at Nowra, and the fungi were at peak form. Some are unusual. Their colours were totally vibrant.
This is the same species, I believe as the silver one above. These fungi had coarse, fawn-coloured gills.
Gaye advises: "Cortinarius (I am not sure of the species - there a few bluish Cortinarius)"
This is a tiny Mycena type of fungus.
I love these miniature Umbrellas.
This is a small, coarse-gilled fungus, which is growing on wood.
JL advised: I've also photographed the 4th one (growing on wood)
but it remains unidentified.

This one is also growing on wood,
but the stem grows out horizontally.
This is a ground-living fungus, with a most unusual olive tone.
The cap is raised in the middle,
whereas many of the others have recessed centres.
Ah, the joys of co-operative Nature Blogging.
JL and Gaye agree that this
beautiful fungus is Dermocybe austroveneta.

Not keen on the colloquial name Gaye offered - Green Skinhead.
By contrast, this luscious pink one is recessed.
This small fungus grows on very fine dead twigs of Grey Myrtle.
There is no stem, but the caps are pendant,
suspended from a centre point above the middle of the fungus.
I have seen these illustrated in books,
but I have not yet had the chance to look them up.
Gaye came up trumps here.
Not only a name, but a link to one of her posts.

Anthracophyllum archeri (Orange Fan)
As soon as I saw this little thing out in the bush,
I knew I had read about it it somewhere. Now I know where.
I believe this to be a form of Slime Mould,
but it is possible that it is simply a miniature fungus
growing on something like some animal dung.
My money is on the Slime Mould.
Other money is on a tiny fungus attacking another fungus.
Gaye suggested: a parasitic fungus that attacks mainly gilled fungi - probably a Spinellus species of the family Zygomycete.
Finally, the most unusual of all.
These are tiny little salmon pink "fingers" about a 35 mm high,
growing out of the ground.
They were in a very wet gully in a sandstone creek
with rainforest surrounding it.
There was a suggestion that these are a form of "coral fungi"
I reserve my judgement.
Well, the experts all agree - thanks ladies.
It is a "coral fungus".

Clavaria species, possibly C. corallinorosacea (or C. miniata).
Bizarre shapes and forms.

8 comments:

Junior Lepid said...

Hello Denis,

Nice finds. I've also photographed the 4th one (growing on wood) but it remains unidentified.

Your last one, the "fingers" would be a coral, I think. Clavaria species, possibly C. corallinorosacea.

As far as the others go, I'm not going to be of much help but I am really interested in the green one with the umbo

Junior Lepid said...

Denis, I've just had a quick flick through Fuhrer, try Dermocybe austroveneta for the green one!

Gaye said...

Oh, Denis, what a delight to open your fungi post first thing this morning !!

The first one is probably a Cortinarius (I am not sure of the species - there a few bluish Cortinarius).

The greenish one is truly a beauty, and is Dermocybe austroveneta (Green Skinhead). I have seen and photographed this one on Mount Royal, locally.

The brown 'shell-like' fungus attached to a branch is Anthracophyllum archeri (Orange Fan). I have an entry on my Fungi Blog of this one:

http://australianfungi.blogspot.com/2007/11/28-anthracophyllum-archeri.html

The specimen that you suppose to be a slime mould is an obvious assumption, but it is a fungus. It is a fungus that attacks other fungi. I will come up with a name when I have more time.

And, yes, the last one will be one of the extensive range of Coral Fungi. I have seen so many of these and have not positively identified any of them, but yours could possibly either be Clavaria corallinorosacea or Clavaria miniata - but of course, with spore prints necessary to identify these (very difficult to obtain, in my experience), it is impossible to be sure.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful colourful fungi finds.

Cheers
Gaye

Gaye said...

Denis, I knew I had photographed similar fungi, so looked up my records:

IF the fine fungi threads that you considered might be a slime mould were growing on another fungus, it will be a parasitic fungus that attacks mainly gilled fungi - probably a Spinellus species of the family Zygomycete.

Here is a bit more:

sporangiophores = the reproductive stalks (the hair-like structures on my image)

sporangia = the spore-containing structures (the little black dots on my image)

Eventually the spores inside the sporangia will be released by breakdown of the outer sporanial wall and the spores will be passively dispersed by wind, water, insects.

IF it was on dung, it is likely to be a species of Pilobolus.

I am off fungi hunting today :)

Cheers
Gaye

Denis Wilson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Denis Wilson said...

Well here you see the wonderfully co-operative Nature Bloggers in action.

Names galore - thanks to JL and Gaye.

I have gone back to the text and inserted names as supplied. Fortunately, you both agree - that's nice.

Gaye, I had a feeling I ought have gone in and poked around under that "slime mould thingy", but frankly it looked like I would have found something nasty - either some Wombat poo, or a dead and rotten Gilled Fungus. Truth was it was pretty inaccessible, above a very large rock and I would have had to scramble up and over, and I was not keen to try that, just to stick my finger inside, to discover what the substrate was. Next time I find one of these, I promise you I will hold my nose, and investigate further. Promise, maybe!

Thanks for the help from both JL and Gaye.

Cheers

Denis

mick said...

Beautiful images and a whole new area for me!

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Mick.
Thanks. Gl;ad you liked them.
Well, they have to be there, near you.
.
I don't know if fungi dislike salt - maybe they do. But in general, there is no place where fungi will not grow - even in deserts. But the soft luscious ones like these, grow in moist shaded areas. I am sure that the Queensland coast must have such places.
Cheers
Denis