Australian Fungi

[sean freeman]

So here are some pictures of fungi I have come across in my travels through Oz...mostly in Queensland where I live and work but also some form further afield during trips to other states and territories.

 

I hope that some of you find interest in the often subtle differences between many of our fungi and their close European relatives.

 

First up Curry Punk ~ Piptoporus australiensis found growing at the base of a Blue Quandong ~ Elaeocarpus grandis

 

Its synonym is Polyporus australiensis and is often found on Eucalyptus species amongst other native hardwoods.

[sean freeman]

To show some of the variation in form that the fruiting body can have here are a few shots of Curry Punk ~ Piptoporus australiensis fruiting on Sheoak ~ Casuarina cunninghamiana

 

This fruiting body was photographed soon after heavy rain and was significantly younger than the previous example on the Quandong, the upper surface has not developed a distinct skin, and there is no algae growing on it.

[sean freeman]

Here's another vibrant red/orange fella..

 

Pycnoporus sanguineus fairly commonly found on deadwood in the bush, studies in tropical climates have indicated this fungi is a white rot saprophyte(degrading lignin along with cellulose and hemicellulose).

 

These shots were taken of fruiting bodies on fallen deadwood (Melaleuca mostly) in a wetland environment (Melaleuca swamp).

Edited March 13, 2011 by sean freeman

[David Humphries]

Top notch photography sean. Like the way you've got the context

 

Really appreciate you taking the time to put them up.

 

The curry punk looks like the off spring of Birch polypore & Chicken of the woods.

 

 

 

What are the small orange things below the bracket in the last shot, are they grubs?

 

.

Edited March 13, 2011 by Monkey-D

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

That last one looks similar to pycnoporus cinnabarinus, one ive always wanted to find, cracking stuff sean.

 

Th curry punks pore layer is very reminiscent of our lumpy bracket trametes gibbosa

[sean freeman]

What are the small orange things below the bracket in the last shot, are they grubs?

 

I have to admit () that until I got back to my digs with the pics I had failed to notice the plugs under the fruiting body I can only think they are the result of some grub having its way with the lovely orange entre.

[sean freeman]

That last one looks similar to pycnoporus cinnabarinus

 

My text (Ian Hood 2003 Fungi on wood in Queensland) describes Pycnoporus cinnabarinus (we do not have P.cinnabarinus in the southern hemisphere) as being almost identical except that it has larger pores.

[Bart]

Thats some funky fungi well captured

[Lee Winger]

Really interesting Sean, thanks........

[sean freeman]

A quite different looking fungal fruiting body with a smaller pore size than the last two examples.

 

Cramp balls, or King Alfred's cakes ~ Daldinia concentrica looking quite purple in these shots not the typical black outer layer commonly seen in the photographs in many ID books. Growing here on stubs on a Banyan fig ~ Ficus benghalensis in North Queensland.

 

In the first picture you can see a darker older fruiting body peeking around the edge of the stub

 

The sooty layer on the surface of the stub is formed by the black spores being released by the fruiting body...in the cross section you can clearly see where is name concentrica comes from:sneaky2:

 

Daldinia concentrica belongs to the family Xylariaceae an in the same genera as another Ascomycetes fungi Hypoxylon, which will I suspect be familiar to many of you, and degrading wood tissues as a soft rot.