MycoRant

In scouring the web in search of something interesting, I came across Australian Fungi – A Blog (Fungus observations around Australia, particularly in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney). Okay, I admit it. I wasn’t exactly “scouring”—I lifted the link off the Cornell Mushroom Blog Links page.

Anyway, as soon as I got there it appeared that the blog had been updated on the very day! That is good to see, because unfortunately the majority of mycology blogs I have checked out are outdated. Attempting to contact the bloggers to see what they are up to seems to be largely a waste of time as well (at least so far).

Australian Fungi is operated by Gaye Drady of Singleton in the Hunter Valley, NSW Australia. The post of June 29, 2009 concerned Illiodictyon gracile which looks like it might have arrived on earth via space ship several million years ago. According to Gaye:

“Ileodictyon gracile (Smooth Cage) is a stinkhorn fungus. There is nothing horn-like in the appearance of this fascinating fungus, rather, it resembles a lattice structure, and is therefore sometimes referred to as Lattice or Basket Stinkhorn Fungus.”

A little more from Gaye herself:

“I am just fascinated in fungi and want to learn about them, sharing my observations and images with others in the hope of spreading the good word about fungi. I hope to post once a week.  I will not be posting fungi to my blog unless I am reasonably sure of the identification.  My blog is not simply a selection of images, but a characterization of the fungi that I discover.  I am very happy to be corrected if people more experienced than me can offer corrections or suggestions. I intend to simplify the index by putting it in alphabetic order as
soon as I have the time.”

Keep up the good work Gaye.

Tags: Australian fungi, Illiodictyon, mycology blog, stinkhorns