Friday, June 18, 2010

Dandenongs II

I woke up early this morning, and decided I'd take the train back to the Dandenongs. It's been raining quite a bit there recently, and the humidity has stayed above 90%, and best of all I was going alone, so no one could complain about me spending half an hour walking 100m.





I came across these even before entering the park. They're growing on a massive tree stump outside puffing billy (that wonderful celebration of locally polluting transportation), and they were there for my first visit to the Dandenongs, two years ago with Michael Livingstone. I had no idea what they were. I'm now more sure that they're the honey fungus, Armillaria luteobubalina (which sounds awesome). They're an agressive parasite, and although they love dead wood, they're not afraid to venture to neighbouring plants, as you can see below:




This was weird. Next to an old clapped out Datsun 180, a license plate graveyard.




Now these are some sort of Panaeolus spp., I'd wager. Very conical, dark spored, but on second thoughts, the cap seems too transparent, and the stem too insubstantial.


I wish I knew, and I wish I'd managed better pictures. The caps in particular were really viscid, and clearly marked with black spots, like this:

From Dandenongs 19/06



A small Hypholoma spp.


The truly majestic mountain breed of Psilocybe subaeruginosa. They always tower above the surrounding grass and undergrowth.


Mycena spp., in front of some orange bracket fungi.



This species has me stumped.


Lycoperdon pyriforme, a puffball.
Clitocybe clitocyboides, standing between me and a questing leech.




Lycoperdon pyriforme


This is a close-up of its apical pore.


Geastrum triplex


Not sure. Must find out.


Ah, these beauties are Dermocybe austrovenetas. As you can see, they have a greeny colour that's quite unusual for mushrooms, particularly ones so large. On the whole, mushrooms steer clear of the shade, which they disparagingly leave to the "seeders".




But, speaking of green, I was very pleased with this find. These are Chlorociboria aeruginascens, an Ascomycota species that was used in the past to stain wood to make coloured Tunbridge Ware inlay. You can't see it so well in this photo, but the wood was stained so green I temporarily thought the council had sprayed it with their toxic copper compounds. Then I looked around me, realised I was 250m off the path in the middle of a fern gully in the Dandenongs, with no other green staining around me, and decided that was unlikely.


Two P. subaeruginosa individuals, showing their hygrophanous caps (i.e., they change colour as they dry).

From Dandenongs 19/06

Their close relative, Stropharia aurantiaca, or the red emperor

Monday, June 14, 2010

Kinglake NP and Wandong SF

I'd spent wonderful hours in Wandong State Forest over the last couple of years, first going there because it best satisfied my two criteria for weekend visits: (1) close to public transport, and (2) quite wet. I'd been through Kinglake a couple of times, including one memorable weekend when I jumped the fence at Toorourrong reservoir, and followed the bluestone canal for a kilometre, finding both fungi and wombats.

Last year's fires hit both places hard. Kinglake particularly, and I hadn't really prepared myself for the destruction. It wasn't so much the damage, actually, I guess most of that's been cleared (although not all). It was the building-site quality of the streets.



Kinglake NP was almost entirely closed. Only one walk was open, and I followed it until the monotony of burned trunks and underfoot moss became too much. There were lots of fungi, but only really three species of mushrooms.


These were absolutely everywhere, but sadly I can't find out what they are.


This large fellow could be an Entoloma species, although it could be the introduced Hebeloma crustuliniforme, or Poison Pie (the former is apparently uncommon).


I wish this were Mycena nivalis, because I've been searhing for one of them for quite some time now. However, it looks like either at Panaeolus, or a Hygrocybe species.



No idea, really. But pretty, huh? This bracket fungi seemed very common on the burned stumps.


Wow. I'm not even sure these are fungi. My books have nothing like it in them.

My next stop was Wandong State Forest, a place I used to know very well, but which is almost unrecognisable. All of the small houses that lined the forest trails into the park have disappeared, and the pine plantations have been raised, perhaps after being burned. About the only constant was the dirtbikes.


Phew, I'm back on solid ground. These are Psathyrella pennata.


Xerula australis, which looks even taller in person. I call them "long tall sallys", a sure indication that I've been walking alone in the bush too long.


Galerina unicolor, a rather poisonous species.


The Wandong view out to the cleared pine plantations.


Psilocybe coprophilia - not a great specimen, but I loved the fact it was growing out of dung that was perched on a fallen branch.


Um ...


Er ...


Brick tops again, Hypholoma sublateritium


Podoscypha petalodes!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Otways

I've been wanting to go to the Otways to hunt fungi for quite a while now, but it's a long way. Cindy and Michael decided to accompany me this morning, after a breakfast at Dench. Jo-Lyn piked (on the hunting, not the breakfast).

It was pretty wet, but the day was as perfect as you can expect for a surf coast June. We took a couple of walks near Erskine falls, which was (unsurprisingly) wet and humid.

From Otways

I reckon this is a Hapalopilus nidulans, but these bracket fungi all look pretty similar.


From Otways

Clitocybe clitocyboides

From Otways

Tremella fimbriata. This is the only jelly fungus I can ID with any certainty.

From Otways

Mycena subgalericulata. These were absolutely everywhere. In fact, there were mycena everywhere, although this was the only photo that turned out well. I think there were even some Mycena interrupta, on the treestump in the middle of the carpack, but their blue colour had been washed out with age and the sun.

From Otways
Maybe Pholiota malicola?


From Otways

I have no idea about this one. Young fruiting bodies can be ambiguous.

From Otways

An earthstar. I think it's Geastrum triplex, but people often disagree because the centre sphere's colour is quite dark.


From Otways

I think these are brick caps: Hypholoma sublateritium. But that doesn't account for what look like remnants of a veil.

From Otways

These are Clavaria miniata, the flame fungus.

From Otways

From Otways

Cortinarius lavendulensis. Beautifully viscous caps.


From Otways

Melbourne's favourite magic mushroom, Psilocybe subaeruginosa. Unusually unmolested, sitting right next to the carpark.

From Otways
Coprinus comatus, the shaggy lawyer's mane.

From Otways

From Otways

These two are both Boletes, fleshy-pores. But which species, I don't really know. Perhaps Boletus barragensis