Cup Fungi
Cup or disk fungi are either flat disks or shallow cups on soil, dung or wood. They vary from less than a millimetre to several centimetres in diameter and appear in colours such as black, white, orange, aqua, brown, and yellow. Some are on short ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Truffle-Like Fungi In Australia
The truffle-like Phaeangium lefebvrei is found in the dry areas of north Africa and the Middle East. In Kuwait the fruiting bodies are sought out at by least 11 species of migrating birds and Bedouin hunters are reported to use the fruiting ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Flask Fungi
As well as such sheet-like species there are various species with markedly three-dimensional stromata. The species of Cordyceps are parasites, mostly of invertebrates and commonly of invertebrate larvae. The fruiting body in this photo (of ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
The Cup Fungi - And Relatives
The fruiting bodies of species in the genera Geoglossum and Trichoglossum are blackish brown to black and are mostly club-like - consisting of an expanded upper portion atop a narrower stem. They are rubbery in texture, found on the soil and are ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Jelly Fungi & Wood-Ears
The irregularly shaped jelly fungi (such as the species of Tremella) have the basidia in the convoluted surfaces of the fruiting bodies. The basidia of the jelly fungi are septate along their long axes and have long, often weakly sinuous ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Stinkhorns, Puffballs & Birds Nest Fungi
Cannonball fungi – whereas the fruiting bodies of Birds Nest Fungi are steep sided cups, the cup of the Cannonball Fungus (Sphaerobolus stellatus) is shallow and only about 2mm across. Each cup contains only one 'egg' or 'cannonball'. When ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Truffle-Like Fungi - Ascomycetes
In the ascomycete truffle-like fungi the asci may be spread throughout the interior of the fruiting body, embedded in firm tissue or be lined up along the walls of internal chambers. This unidentified species of Tuber , collected in the ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Flask Fungi
These fungi produce their spores in tiny, generally globose, chambers (called perithecia) which are mostly under a couple of millimetres in diameter - often no more than a millimetre. At first, it might seem strange to include these fungi because ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Coral And Jelly Fungi
Coral fungi, usually found on soil but sometimes on rotting wood, may be simple fleshy clubs or intricately branched coral-like forms in various colours (e.g. white, yellow, brown, orange, purple). Generally they are no more than a few ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
The Study Of Australian Fungi
What follows is a highly abbreviated account of the progress in the study of Australian (macro)fungi in the years since European settlement in 1788. This account highlights some of the major players and broad trends. Much of the material is taken ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Truffle-Like Fungi - Basidiomycetes
The fruiting bodies of the basidiomycete truffle-like fungi are varied in form, sometimes stalked but mostly stalk-less and more-or-less spherical in shape . Internally the fruiting bodies are chambered, with the chambers of some species easy to ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
Corticioid, Stereoid And Coral Fungi
The corticioid and stereoid fungi have basidia lining the undersides of the fruiting bodies. The corticioid fungi have sheet-like fruiting bodies - often smooth but also found with minor bumps, ridges, spines, etc on the otherwise two-dimensional ... [... more]
Australian National Botanic Gardens |
