Episode 03: Wheelie into fungi…

After an unfortunate slip in the garden, Cathy finds herself in a wheelchair. What a golden opportunity to test out the possibilities of a fungi foray on four wheels. Join us as we trial one of the accessible trails in the lovely sub-tropical rainforest of Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, near Maleny.

We found some new fungi (for us!) when testing out the accessibility of trails. It was slow and bumpy going in the wheelchair in places which made us move even slower than usual when foraying. And that is a good thing for fungi spotting!

A tentative ID for the “black balls” is Hypoxylon multiforme. It’s a saprobic (wood rotting) ascomycete in the family Xylariaceae, related to Xylaria species like Dead Man’s Fingers (X. polymorpha).

Annulohypoxylon archeri (formerly Hypoxylon archeri) is used in the cultivation of Tremella fuciformis (snow fungus, white jelly fungus) and it is on A. archeri that we find snow fungus growing in the wild.

Those grey/mauve “puffballs on wood” look to be a Lycoperdon species - possibly L. subincarnatum but we’re not yet convinced. Fun fungi fact - Lycoperdon comes from the Latin ‘Lyco’ wolf and ‘perdon’ flatulence. So…wolf’s fart!