Monday 5 August 2013

Fabulous Fungi Finds

image toadstool mushroom fungus fungi laetiporus portentosus eucalyptus tree

Okay, okay, apologies for the cheesy alliteration - I just can't help myself!  But I'm not just fascinated by alliterations, I am also extremely fascinated with fungi (unless it's growing on my food of course!)  This winter has been a relatively wet one in Melbourne and there have also been some unseasonally warm patches of weather too.  I think all this has made conditions beautiful for the fungal growth to appear in the native parklands close to my home.

image toadstool mushroom fungus fungi laetiporus portentosus eucalyptus tree
This one had fallen off its tree.

The Cheeky Monkeys and I have had fun spotting fungi along our walks to and from school and in the neighbourhood, but the prize of our finds were two very large toadstools (or maybe I should say fungal fruiting bodies) growing on the eucalyptus trees so abundant in our area.  I was seriously intrigued by these large fungal growths, having never seen a mushroom or toadstool so large.  A bit of Googling (what is the correct term for Google searching???), has led me to believe that these fungal giants belong to the Laetiporus portentosus species, which can supposedly be found growing on eucalyptus trees around NSW and Victoria.  So tell me, do you love to spot outcroppings of toadstools in your area?  And have you found anything amazing?

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