Good rainfall in the last eighteen months has seen an amazing proliferation of fungi in our woodlands.The moist gullies and sheltered hillsides of the shire are already showing signs that this year will be as good as 2010 in fungi sightings. You do have to keep your eyes peeled, however: many of the most interesting things to see are very small. The hygrocybe pictured below, for example, is less than two inches tall!
Near White Gum Track. Photo by Bernard Slattery, May 2011
These beautiful–and, let’s face it, sometimes bizarre–phenomena are important and little understood components of the ecosystem. Estimates of the number of fungi species in Australia vary from 10,000 to 20,000, and only about a quarter have been documented. For that reason there’s more than a little to be learned from Alison Pouliot’s talk on Fungi: the mysterious kingdom, to be held at the Campbell’s Creek Community Centre on Thursday May 26 [6.30 for supper, illustrated talk from 7 to 9]. Alison is an extremely engaging and well informed presenter, whose local fungi workshops are usually booked out. Her brilliant photographs can be seen on www.alisonpouliot.com
Alison’s workshop is part of the Connecting Country education program. Admission to this and other education program public lectures is free. For more details click here.
To see a few more local fungi pictures, check the Fungi, Mosses and Lichens section of our photo gallery.
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Click on image for info/order page
