Scum-lover fungus

Description:

Delicate white clubs on slender stalks. These were about 10 mm tall and about 2 mm wide. Noticeable only because they were in stark contrast to the brown fibrous surrounds.
The streaks of green seen on the substrtum beneath the clubs is algae with which this fungus is associated.

Habitat:

Spotted on the trunk of a tree fern near in a gully - nature reserve

Notes:

Called scum-lover because these special fungi grow in a symbiosis with an algae Coccomyxa, an association similar to that seen in lichens. In lichens the algal components are within the fungal body whereas in this case the algae grows external to the fungus in the same substratum.
The other point of interest : " M. mucida is also a rare example of symbiosis of a basidiomycete and algae. Vast majority of lichens is an association of ascomycete with algae." R.H. Petersen ( Mushroom Observer)