It was a perfect Queensland autumn morning in the Bay off Brisbane.
After weeks of rain, the excitement of seeing a sky of blue and a sea sparkling like diamonds had me out of the door and off on a morning walk in the woods before settling down to my day job – Hand drawing pictorial journal-maps for Journey Jottings (which for the curious, helps you record your travel memories on a single sheet!).
Walking in the Eucalypt Woods
The sun shot shards of light through the eucalyptus branches spotlighting bracken ferns on the forest floor.
While areas filtered by the silvery eucalypt leaves formed shady glades of dappled contrasts in the leaf litter.
Soaking up the warming rays I was walking with my head tilted skyward, only glancing downward in momentary bursts (to check where I was going) when something out the corner of my eye grabbed my attention.
Can you see what I saw? 😉
Purple Mushrooms
A little splash of purple sprouting in the composting leaves.
What a delightful find!
A Purple Cap –
A member of the Cortinarius family –
From what I can ascertain a Cortinarius archeri.
Cortinarius Archeri
There are over a 1,000 species within the Cortinarius family, so named for the cortina they all possess, which is the thin veil like covering on the underside of the cap protecting the immature spore bearing surface.
Once broken, and the spores are released a rusty coloured ring becomes visible around the stem called a spore print –
Which it appears is the stage my fungi were at!
Fungus (plural fungi) unlike plants, produce no chlorophyll; their energy being sourced underground as they feed and grow in a mycelium, which is a network of microscopically thin cobweb-like threads called hyphae. Their real work goes on unseen below the surface where the fungi are critical nutrient recyclers, decomposing the forest debris making rich compost for future propagation.
Their fleeting appearance above ground is merely to fruit.
The work of this beautiful purple cap is the fungus “flower”, perched atop its stalk raises the fruit bearing mechanism to improve its spore (seed) distribution.
One autumn, when walking on Stradbroke Island I came across a
bevy of Australian fungi.
But this solitary splash of purple in the undergrowth was not only more startling,
it was simply… special 🙂
What fabulous Australian fungi have you spotted?
Have you ever seen a purple one?
Really cool find! I had no idea that there are purple mushrooms in the world.
And with purple being my favourite colour (as anyone who knows me would testify!!) it felt all the more like walking into a fairy circle 😉
yes there are many purple mushrooms on Mt Congewai in the lower hunter valley. we saw them on a recent training run
Thanks for dropping by and sharing where else these wonderful purple fungi have been spotted!
Such a thrill coming across such a brilliant coloured fungi isn’t it?! 🙂
What a cool find! And a fascinating piece of Aussie trivia that I didn’t know. But something that colour has got to be toxic, right??
I’m so pleased I’m not the only one who thinks its cool, Red!
And you’re right… You wouldn’t catch me eating it 🙂
We have these growing in our front yard at present.
Soooooo gorgeous, aren’t they?!
So vibrant when they first pop up – But they don’t last very long!
When I went back a few days later mine had started to go brown and they’ve now decomposed into a brown gooey withered mess on the ground 🙂
I live on coochiemudlo island and today i photographed some purple fungi which I believe is a member of the Cortinarius family.
Hi Diane,
How wonderful – and they’re fairly short lived so fantastic you took some photos to be able to enjoy their beauty for longer!
They just seem such an exiting colour – so I’m enamoured 🙂
I have purple fungi growing in our land at Woodford, Qld Ihave searched Google but can”t find anything like them, How do I ost a photograph to you for a posible ident?
Thanks so much for reaching out –
Sadly I am no expert of fungi – Just an enthusiast when I spot such an amazing coloured example 😀
I found a purple 2 actually today in the southwest wa was amazing ?
I think I just love fungi, full stop!!
There have been some beauties about at the moment as we traverse autumn, red ones, yellow ones… but the purple ones are pretty hard to beat 😉