A few days earlier, I had visited Wolli Creek to look for fungi and the results had been very disappointing. I though that Coachwood Glen at Blackheath may be better, due to its location and had earlier suggested a trip there with Liz.
Dead Man’s Fingers – Xylaria polymorpha
I travelled by train to Springwood and met Liz, and then we traveled in her car to the Coachwood Glen Reserve on the road down to Megalong at Blackheath. Conditions were not great – it was a bit dry, but there was still a fair amount of fungi out and some of it was fresh. We had a very good day looking around and photographing fungi.
I think Coachwood Glen retains its moisture better than many other areas – being sheltered by large cliffs on two sides.
One highlight of our visit was finding quite a few Cordyceps species, some of which don’t seem to appear in out fungi guides. Here are some –
There were also quite a few waxcaps out –
Another nice fungus to find was another Claustula fischeri (a rare type of stinkhorn) –
Claustula fischeri (a rare type of stinkhorn)
This stinkhorn had been found earlier at Coachwood Glen – in 2016 and earlier this year.
And we also found what we thought was a very strange fungus that did not seem to fit into any group. After posting the photo to Facebook, one person who saw it was Greg Steenbeecke and he made the suggestion that it was not a fungus but rather the fruiting body of a Thismia. A rather strange plant that lives most of its life underground and gets its nourishment not from photosynthesis but rather from a fungus. Here are two of the photos –
More photos are online on my website here.