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Fungi Photos Group H
Flammulina velutipes to Gloeophyllum sepiarium
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Flammulina velutipes "Velvet Foot", a wood-rotting fungus found world-wide, grows in bunches on dead wood, in Australia especially on Acacia. When wet, the cap is viscid, from yellow-orange to red-brown, to 100 mm across. Gills are whitish, the spore print white. The stem, when mature, is covered by a velvety layer, darkening near the base; there is no ring. Cultivated in Asia as edible Enokitake, forced to grow as long, pale bunches of stems and tiny caps. ANBG ref Mushroom Expert ref Doctor's Creek walking track, Reefton, 2009. 54 kB
Fomitopsis lilacinogilva is a wood-rotting bracket fungus common in many places of Gondwanaland origin. Found on logs, stumps, and some outdoor wooden constructions. Forms fans, shelves, pads or crusts, to 100 mm across, hairy, crusted above, zoned pinkish and brownish. Fine pores underneath characteristically lilac to pinkish lilac, intense near edge. Spores white. ANBG ref Morwell ref Jumping Creek Nature Trail, Warrandyte, 2007. 45 kB
Fuligo septica is a myxomycete or "slime mold", an organism different from but looking similar to some fungi. Found world-wide, often on garden mulch and forest litter, it forms a bright yellow spongy mass of tissue (a plasmodium) that eventually changes to a harder greyish mass (the sporangium) that gives rise to spores, which are spread by insects and the elements as it breaks down. The plasmodium is interesting because its tissue slowly moves along amoeba-like in search of nutrients, unlike fungi, which are fixed, but with growing hyphae. Wikipedia ref Tom Volk ref Healesville Sanctuary, 2009. 73 kB
Galerina hypnorum group is a related group of small, slim yellow-brown bell-shaped agarics that grow on rotting wood always amongst moss. They are only microscopically distinguishable. Caps to 20 mm, conical to bell-shaped, striate, smooth, pale cinnamon to light golden brown, fragile. Gills pale brown, close; spore print yellow brown. Stem yellow-brown to brown, slender. NB: True Galerina hypnorum is found only in the Northern Hemisphere. BioImages ref Ned's Gully, Cathedral Range, 2007. 32 kB
Galerina patagonica group occurs on rotting wood In Australia-NZ and Patagonia (Gondwanaland connection). Cap to 45 mm, yellowish brown to dark brown, convex with a little pointed umbo, smooth, viscid when moist, striate, and hygrophanous. Gills cream to light brown, close; spore print yellow-brown. Stem with a persistent dark brown ring, tough, fibrillose-striate, often expanded near base. White mycelium visible at base. Wikipedia ref Kaimai Bush NZ Myrtle Loop Walk, The Beeches, Marysville, 2005. 52 kB
Ganoderma australe. Earlier named G. applanatum but DNS shows mainly G. australe here. Quite widespread and common. Grows on logs and stumps, and on some living trees as a parasite, causing heart-rot. Thick shelves or brackets to 500 mm wide, 40-100 mm thick, growing to overlapping layers, colour zones dark brown to black on top. Underneath is a layer of whitish fine pores which marks brown when scratched or pressed, all becoming brown with age. The brackets often engulf grass and twigs as they grow, and the dark brown spore powder dusts nearby objects. ANBG ref Wikimedia ref Myrtle Loop Walk, The Beeches, Marysville, 2008. 53 kB
Geastrum triplex, "Collared Earthstar" is a common wood-rotting fungus often found on the ground amongst forest litter, usually on buried wood. It occurs world-wide. A brownish fragile central sac, full of powdery dark brown spores, lies on an a saucer-like underlying series of thick fleshy, pale brown to reddish-brown pointed "rays". The latter often curl under and partially fracture. The spore sac has an upper aperture surrounded by a tiny fibrillose cone or "beak" of tissue, and the aperture is often surrounded by a paler zone. Wikipedia ref Mushroom Expert ref Dom Dom Saddle, 2007. 44 kB
Gloeophyllum sepiarium is a world-wide bracket fungus growing mainly on dead conifer wood. This specimen was on a fence railing. Upper surface red-brown, zonate, with a yellowish lighter outer growing zone. Underneath is a distinctive set of light brown spore-bearing gills forming a branching, labyrinthine pattern. Spore print white. Blue Swami ref Wikimedia ref Ned's Gully, Cathedral Range, 2007. 55 kB
