Wednesday 15 July 2009

Fungi at Homerton

There wasn't a lot of fungi in our bush at Homerton, but I ended up finding quite a few different species. My local friends tell me that I should have been there a few weeks earlier. (The story of my life.) But it's lovely to find something tucked away under bracken or on a log, and these are photos of just a few.

These little orange discs were growing on kangaroo dung. Each disc has eyelashes but you'd need a magnifying glass to see them. (Or you can click on the photo here to enlarge.)

5 comments:

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Boobook

I can confirm your ID of the Eyelash fungi as Scutellinia scutellata.
When I fuirst came across them, I couldn't believe the structure,and immediately dubbed them "eyelash fungi" - which turned out to be their real name.
Nice when a name is so obvious.
The Latin name refers to "small shield" - from their shape, not the more distinctive "eyelashes".
They're one of my favourites.
They are a wet, rotten wood specialist.
Cheers
Denis

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Boobook
.
I found some tiny "Eyelash Fungi" today, and they were on some small herbivore dung - not sure what, probably Wallaby.
.
Anyway, I realise now that mine and yours are much smaller than what I had seen before, which were on rotten wood.
.
My earlier finds were about the size of a fingernail on my littlest finger. (roughly 1 cm diameter). Whereas today's were 2mm mostly and the largest ones barely 3mm.
.
I needed a 10x lens to get a good look at them.
.
As today's find was on dung, like your find was, I am assuming these are probably the same as yours. My earlier ones would have been a larger species (but obviously closely related).
.
cheers
Denis

Anonymous said...

Hi Boobook

I have become aware through the blog by Denis Wilson, on her blog. The little orange mushroom is a species of Cheilymenia. Most species of the genus grow on dung. The provision is possible only with a microscope. Even if I do not know the Australian fungus, I do think that the first two pictures show a species of the genus Amanita. The image 4 is a species of Cortinarius from the group of Telamon and the last picture should be a Hypholoma.

Best regards Peter Welt, Saxonia, Germany

Boobook said...

Thankyou Peter and Denis. Very helpful.

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Boobook
Peter first dropped by an old posting of mine a few days ago.
Good thing the "comments" function stays alive.
We have exchanged several message now, from, my Blog.
.
He is a specialist in coprophilous fungi (Mushrooms which grow on Dung).
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He is chairman of the association "Pilzfreunde (Friends of Mushrooms) Chemnitz" Saxony.
.
Good to have overseas experts drop by our Blog sites.
.
Cheers
Denis