The impact of record rainfall: 2 Fungi

This is the second post about the side effects of the recent rain.  In the case of fungi, I suspect that the relevant indicator is that we have received some rain (and I really only record ~1+mm) on 17 of the 29 days of February.  Cutting to the chase as we looked around the property today there were more fungal fruiting bodies - in both numbers and diversity than we have ever seen before.  It was like a rain forest without the trees!

I am putting the images up now, in the hope that I can update IDs etc later.

What really kicked this post off was Frances noticing a lot of brown lumps in the top paddock while we were walking the small dog this morning.  These turned out to be a heap of fungi.
On getting closer they were clearly agarics of some form.
Then we started to see large white fungi (lots of them) with 'drippy bits' - a partial veil.  As Denis has commented below, this is Macrolepiota dolichaula- which I have included before but didn't have the name in whatever drives my fingers over the keyboard.

I think this next image is a very young version of this species.
One of the commonest fungi around the place is Omphalina chromacea.  This next image shows well the algae with which it associates.  (This is a zoomed image - they are not huge!)
Also common is Marasmius oreades - the Fairy-ring champignon.  The first image shows a clump of them, while the second shows the spore print after sacrificing one of them in the cause of science (they are not exactly endangered).

A long-dead eucalypt was graced with a Gymnophilus junonius art the base (sorry about the mini-brambles).
 We now show a couple of images of a bolete.  They started off looking like this..
 .. but as they age degenerate to this.
Other boletes, possibly Boletus barragensis, were found a couple of days later.  The third image shows the bluish stain resulting from my bruising part of the cap.



Dodging about a bit, we - specifically Frances - found these two Earthstars (Geastrum sp).  A couple of days later there were 10s of these in the same spot.
Earthstars are closely related to puffballs, and on later visits to the top paddock I found a lot of small yellow puffballs growing.  I have no idea of the specific identity of these!   Note the visiting ant!


Now to a few complete unknowns.

The main point of the last image is that the gills look very like a Field mushroom.  We have a lot of them and eat them with great enjoyment.  The top does not look like a field mushroom, so it isn't getting eaten.  The idea of spending 4 days dying of liver failure does not appeal.

The next day (1 March) I found several of these fungi growing near our house dam.  I am sure I will be able to find a name soon.
The rain has continued and on 4 March we found this nice fungus possibly Ramariopsis crocea growing on the ground in a Joycea/Eucalyptus area.  The images gradually close in.
Here is a spore print from this coral fungus:
Nearby, on the bark of a Eucalypt I found a bracket fungus.  Due to the wonders of computing I have combined both the over and under sides in a single image.
From a subsequent scouring of Fuhrer I suspect this is Hexagonia sp.- possibly H. tenuis.

Comments

Denis Wilson said…
Hi Martin.
Lovely assortment of Fungi.
The tall white ones are almost certainly Macrolepiota dolichaula (but you probably knew that).
http://www.sydneyfungalstudies.org.au/images/commonFungi/macrolepiotadolichaula.jpg
.
Love the little slimy yellow one with the semi-transparent cap. (Your first of the odd ones). I have no idea, however.
.
The Omphalina chromacea up here are having a record season.
Cheers
Denis
Flabmeister said…
Thanks Denis.

I did know that name, in a visceral sense. Unfortunately the words hadn't risen from the sacral region to cranial region when I hurriedly compiled that post. I will now fix.

Martin

Popular posts from this blog

A tour of the West (part 1)

Insects from pine trees

Satin Bowerbird gets ready for Lanigans Ball.