Fungi Foray

Sunday June 30 was a productive morning with 20 species in all recorded in one small section along Woodland Walk in Westgate Park. This was a good result given the fact that for the previous week the weather had been warm, windy and dry – not ideal conditions for seeing sporing fungi.

The four children in the team proved to be especially good and enthusiastic spotters and they found two Oudemansiella gigaspora – Rooting Shanks with their very tall and slender stems (or stipes). These fungi have white spores and their stipe is unusual in that it extends deep into the soil to buried wood. They are not often seen in the Park so this was a great find.

Here are some of the other species we saw:

… and below is the full list of foray sightings which will be submitted to iNaturalist for verification and forwarded to the Atlas of Living Australia for mapping.

• Agaricus sp.
• Agaricus xanthodermus – Yellow Stainer
• Bolbitius titubans – Egg-yolk Fieldcap
• Chlorophyllum brunneum – Shaggy Parasol
• Gymnopilus junonuis – Spectacular Rustgill
• Gymnopus sp.
• Leratiomyces ceres, Redlead Roundhead
• Mycena sp.
• Oudmansiella gigaspora – Rooting Shank
• Parasola conopilus
• Pholiota comunis
• Resupinatus sp.
• Tubaria furfuracea – Scurfy Twiglet
• Chondrostereum purpureum
• Pycnoporus coccineus – Red Bracket
• Geastrum triplex – Earthstar
• Geastrum pectinatum – Beaked Earthstar
• Cyathus stercoreus – Bird’s Nest