The fungi at Sassafras Gully at Springwood have really benefited from the recent wet period and their is now a lot on display. I headed up the mountains with Atli, a visiting nature photographer from Iceland. We had met the year before when he was visiting Australia. Not far down the track, we also met another friend Tam. She had her camera out and was photographing fungi too. So she joined us on the day.
Humidicutis taekeri
Its always a good sign if you see fungi early on along the track, and this time we came across some large coral fungi – Ramarias, growing next to the track. This was along the track that starts from the end of Sassafras Gully Road. Lower down, in the rainforest there was a lot more fungi out – and some of it was truly astounding.
We walked, slowly, looking for fungi and then photographing it, and reached the Lagoon at Glenbrook Creek for a late lunch. We ventured a little way down Glenbrook Creek to photograph the interesting white polypore that I had been observing in the same location for a few years. It grows on the soil and is one that I have not been able to identify.
We then returned back up the Sassafras Gully Track, again walking slowly and finding a lot more fungi that we missed on the way down. Our exit route this time was up the Wiggins Track, and again, even close to the road we found quite a bit of interesting fungi.
Some highlights of our visit – for me, one was finding the very beautiful Humidicutis taekeri. This is a green waxcap with striking orange coloured gills. In two years spent visiting Sassafras Gully this was the first time I had seen it here.
Another high point was finding the strange Gomphus sp again. This fungus seems to exude blue droplets when it is developing. I found two growing in the same place I had seen it the previous season. They should grow larger over the next week or two.
Gomphus sp
One little area on the track yielded a treasure of fungi. I had stopped to photograph a couple of nice fresh Ramarias growing on the track. When I had set up my camera, I noticed that this was the same spot that I had seen some unusual trumpet fungi a few weeks earlier. I saw the same ones again – and they had almost fallen to bits. So I looked around and found some new ones – these were a lot fresher and certainly supported my identification of Craterellus sp. It seems to be one not in the standard books. Also in that same area, was a nice Blue Entoloma ( Inocephalus virescens ) growing on a nearby bank. And also, hiding nearby was a nice Jelly Baby Fungus ( Leotia lubrica ).
Craterellus sp
Leotia lubrica
All down the valley, the waxcaps are starting to emerge. here are some we saw –
Hygrocybe miniata
Hygrocybe apricosa
Hygrocybe austropratensis
Humidicutis taekeri
Hygrocybe astatogala
Hygrocybe polychroma
Porpolomopsis lewelliniae
More should be out as the weather cools over the next few months.
Coral Fungi was in abundance. here are some that we found –
Also lots of club fungus out, in different colours. I have never seen such an abundance of the green clubs ( Microglossum viride ).
We also spotted a number of species of Cordyceps – the fungi that grows off caterpillars or other living organisms –
Also here are some of the other fungi that we found –
A lot more photos are online here on my website.