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.)

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5 comments:

  1. Denis Wilson16 July 2009 at 19:00

    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

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  2. Denis Wilson25 July 2009 at 06:07

    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

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  3. Anonymous4 January 2010 at 10:55

    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

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  4. Boobook4 January 2010 at 16:14

    Thankyou Peter and Denis. Very helpful.

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  5. Denis Wilson4 January 2010 at 21:44

    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).
    .
    He is chairman of the association "Pilzfreunde (Friends of Mushrooms) Chemnitz" Saxony.
    .
    Good to have overseas experts drop by our Blog sites.
    .
    Cheers
    Denis

    ReplyDelete