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Project Noah Nature School
After an incredibly dry 4 months I was not expecting to see any fungi at all when I came across this little patch of unusual boletes. Two were fairly large (about 180mm across) and one had been smashed a bit. The others were much smaller and just coming through the surface of the earth. They were obviously all in a poor state due to age, the long-term dry and the last 2 days of non-stop rain. One was becoming slimy and white patches of a secondary fungus were appearing. On the top of the intact one were also signs of darker molds. The underneath of the intact one was collapsing into a chocolate coloured slime. The one that had been kicked or trodden on showed no signs of the white but revealed some very bright red inside. Some parts of the 'trodden' specimen seemed to show the typical 'bluish' tints of bruising.
Under small to medium eucalyptus trees on a highway median strip.
Yet to research any of this and compare with older spottings from the area. It's even possible there are 2 different boletes here and something other than a Hypomyces sp.... either way a mysterious mess or a messy mystery. I think I'll try for ugliest spotting of the day with this one.
Spotted on Apr 10, 2014
Submitted on Apr 10, 2014
3 Comments
what an amazing surface!
So right Shanna. It was delving into the creepy zone. I kept thinking it might move at any moment.
Wow, that thing looks like an ecosystem all on its own.