This was an excellent day of fungi spotting and photography. Conditions were quite good. I started at Chatswood Station and walked down to Ferndale Park, then a short road walk to Blue Gum Reserve, and I followed a rough track down Blue Gum Creek to the Lane Cove River. Then after lunch, I followed the Riverside Track to Porters Creek, and then another road walk to Macquarie Park.
The Ferndale Park pink waxcap
At Ferndale Park, I had arranged to meet Peter Woodard, a local botanical enthusiast. He has been observing what appear to be pink waxcaps in the park for several years. I was keene to seem them for myself and to collect some specimens. Peter showed me here the pink waxcaps were located – in a small area near the creek. They would have been hard to find without his aid. All the specimens we found were a little dried out, due to recent windy conditions. But they do appear to be waxcaps and they do not appear to be described. The are quite small – caps about 2 cm across in the largest ones, with a rough pink colour. Their stipe is thin and whitish. Gills are distant and have pink – yellow – green tinges.
The Ferndale Park pink waxcap
At the park, there was a lot of other interesting fungi about – including a lot more waxcaps. Close to the pink ones was a fresh cluster of lovely green Gliophorus viridis (also known as Hygrocybe stevensoniae). More were on the other side of the creek as well as a lot of another green species – Gliophorus graminicolor.
Gliophorus graminicolor
Gliophorus viridis
Back near the pink ones was small colony of a multicoloured species – perhaps Hygrocybe aurantipes.
Here are some more photos of some of the waxcap fungi at Ferndale Park –
At Blue Gum Reserve, I started walking down the creek from the scout hall. There are several old tracks on the true right of the creek. One seems to go higher up and is probably the easier one to follow, but the best fungi are found nearer to the creekbed – so I followed a lower track. Both tracks seem to merge near the end of the good section of fungi near the creekbed.
As well as green waxcaps, there seemed to be a lot of the lovely Hygrocybe anomola var. ianthinmarginata out. This “anomalous” waxcap has a red-orange stipe and a much paler yellow-orange (and perhaps green or brown) cap. The “ianthinmarginata” variant has a tinge of mauve in the cap. Here are some examples –
And another of the waxcaps of the Blue Gum Reserve –
Lower down the tracks merge, and it is not too hard to follow a quite rough track down on the true right. Just after another track joins it on the right, the track crosses the creek and joins a more substantial track that soon becomes a dirt road. Soon after Lane Cove River is reached.
I crossed over here at Fullers Bridge, and walked a short way upstream to a picnic area for lunch. Then I continued some pleasant easy walking along the Riverside Track, heading upstream. It did not take long to get to Porters Creek. There I went to check out how the Gliophorus psittacinus var. psittacinus was going. It was now quite dry and old looking. All the remaining ones had now either dried out or changed from green to orange.
Gliophorus psittacinus var. psittacinus
Gliophorus psittacinus var. psittacinus
Nearby were some interesting coral fungi. A light brown coloured coral fungi was quite abundant. It was small – no more than 2 cm high and most either unbranched or had one branch. I later found some that had two branches. So what genus? I am not sure. Perhaps Clavulina? I think a lot of Australian coral fungi is undescribed.
Here are some more of the fungi near Porters Creek –
I then returned to Porters Creek bridge and walked by the side of the road back to the National Park entrance. I always seem to find a patch of Ramaria (coral fungus) by the side of the road along here. This time I found two quite different ones.
This was an excellent excursion. More photos with my attempts at id’s can be found on my website – Ferndale Park, Blue Gum Reserve and the Lane Cove River.