For nature lovers,
this past summer has been one of disappointment. Prolonged drought and heatwave
conditions had resulted in stressed forests, dried up wetlands, and minimal
growth of annual flowering plants.
However, with heavy rain followed by high humidity and warm
temperatures, nature instantly bounces back through a proliferation of growth,
not just the annuals and new leaves on shrubs and trees, but with a sparkling
array of fungi.
They come in every form, size, colour and shape imaginable. They grow on
trees, rocks, on the forest floor and on rotting logs, even on grasses.
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| Photo: J Edwards |
The more common groups include mushrooms, those with simple gills on the
under surface that distribute their spores, while others have pores. There are
coral fungi, puffballs, earth stars, underground truffle-like fungi, slime
moulds, shelf, jelly and birds nest fungi, and stinkhorns.
These latter, while beautifully intricate of form, live up to their
names giving off an unpleasant odour to attract flies to help spread their
spores.
Some fungi are barely visible, with heads only 2 – 3 mm across supported
on long stalks no thicker than a thread of cotton, while others are immensely
powerful, able to force their way through the rock hard surface of termite
nests that even a wielded mattock would have difficulty breaking. The variety
is endless.
So get out into our magnificent national parks right now and experience
the finest of nature.
- John Edwards
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on April 3, 2017.
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| Photo: J Edwards FURTHER PHOTOS OF CLARENCE VALLEY FUNGI |
