NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18457, 21 July 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

A BLUE FUNGUS.

Nx jr. DEtrauoNO, 1f.1i.5.,; r.z.a.

Miss Ethel Richardson, Northland Road, Wellington, collected oh • the Tarawa ; Mountains, at the back of; Otaki Forks, at an altitude of 3000 ft., specimens of a fungus '" of ; a lovely blub colour." She took them back to the forks and painted them, and still has tha painting at her home' in Endeavour Inlet. Mr. W. i Martin, ; Dunodin, ■ \ believes thai- -ibis fungus is identical, with one he collected on Mount Kinga,:< which rises from tha astern aida of Lai 'J Brunuer, Westland. .Dr. C. Chilton/ rector of Canterbury Collego, has an individual, also from Westland. The probable official title of the species supplied '-"'Mr. Martin is Hygrephorus cyan.eus, in ; plain English, "the glcssy:bHe moiov-bdaror." Mosi of •;**»» 'iyg'OpbWi fci iiUgland are edible. Three cf °thWii~t!ni. Hertfordshire truffle, buttcaps,. Uk A -caps—ara reported by thos&: who have eaten them, to bo absolutely wholesome, a.nd to have a very agreeable and delicate-taste; and a large crimson hygrophorus found on.English lawns in the late autumn has been declared by an experienced 'fungus-eater, when it is grilled with a piece of butter, salt, and pepper,,and served on toast, to be "most delicate and delicious. «' There was not the slightest indication of toughness, for, ,indeed,, the entire fungus is so tender and fragile that such a condition was never feared," he reports; " but we were scarcely prepared to experience such) a delicacy as it proved to he."

1 While most of the Old Country's hygropheri are harmless, suspicion has attached to at least two species, and New Zealand's azure species may not be as innocent as it is pretiy.; Even a dried speci-j men called from Sir Joseph Hooker, who handled most of the world's famous plant beauties, the praise: " A very, fine species." The specimen sont to him was collected by Sir Julius von Haast among moss in beech forests in the Nelson province many■ years ago. ' Mr. Martin places the blue fungvr, with Asone rubra and the scarlet secotium.in the front rank of New Zealand's most conspicuous and brightly-coloured fungi. He adds: ''Two I other blue fungi occur in Otago. One U'j the violet, seeotinm,' which I ' gathered in a beech' forest on Mangatua at a height of 1500 ft. The other belonged to the plyporus . type, ■ and was pjmosb as: con- • spicuous '.': as . the bii"i hygrophoi'usi, but smaller. The "..'f.pecime'i..: was so badly crushed when I reached home that' it was useless to send to any authority, and atthe time I did not know of anybody in New Zealand who specialised in this country's fungi.""

The most interesting Hem disclosed by Mr. ■*'~tfn iv.' n w'r.pKtti r»i?.'"t-' : , *'■ \&*

:-'-•.'-:.;; •? >>■ i. :''-: l a-:'ercup,i. Eaa&Koulua receus. K>nowh : prf ssly from only three places— in '" 1 ithland '~ and 'or.e in Tar maid.'.• ■, WrJ'm%. yi * this- : [»>lfn tf[ ,*>>? but'a* &}i;i>";D.oimt .■",'' g.Cr. 5 at an e;Aya-! tion of lO.'C'ft. in sand blown from, sand-' hills be'.jw. : It grows also near the entrance to Papanui Inlet. The leaves lie flat on the surface, and, as the. flowers are greenish-yellow and far from . conspicuous, the plant may be much more common than is believed at present. It, was vory interesting to me to find growing on the same square yard no -'.fewer than three [species 1 of [i plants not known previously to occur near.: Dunedin., ; One is an orchid. Ptercstylns mutica. arid another is [[-: the insignificant [/ Oolobanthus Muelleri, a distant, relative of / the chickweed. ■i> Within a View yards ; of 'them th«sre : grew a, tin;? - forget-me-not, Myorotis antarctica.[ '■■ It row is very rare in the district. Here 'i- ~£ stunted and small, but in the hollo*'.* of, sandhills .-;near;, the entrance to Papanui c*nlet-.it?o" same species forms rounded /■ claims <;:in?picaoiis rrom all points- in the hollows. On cliffs near the mouth; of Hooper's Inlet a,: few individuals of another forget-me-not,, Myosotis I capitata, still linger, although the species J has ,; disappeared [[/from•:' other :> : known habitats: in .■ the area."- • ; '

Some : New ZealanJ iui.ji are so widely spread that thoy seem • almost,''-:to be cosmopolitans. / The Rev. W. Qoleni>i>, perhaps the earnest New Zealand fungologist, when he began to [collect specimens in the North laiand diistrjots over -which |he botanized,;:. Was surprised at the heferogeneras character; of / this vast order 0/ I plan';. ■ Describing the spviciefi. he: ex? amjiied, he stated:— *' They vary in shape, , size,, colour, substance, hardness, 1 /and soft- i nfjss, - ■ durability,' toughness and brittle- [ ;'ii'ess.'■■•:•. ; ; Some : havp striking,- brilliant, and J h*>ay.tifal^."''" ; " 'cr',''iii?i, :-'/of ,-■ which./.:;&- : /;',4.' ': v-i vaofe =/:.:fv ~ if.'ennv,predominates. ; Othere an- ..'■•*. -gantjy --Koneoi: find plaited and filled': ■*s*.h x&':.i ;«g :>neufei^/colours , regularly ~. disposed';- ?■ .some ; - have. ■. '£ rich lustrous satiny appearance, others are vel- , vety, others ; opalescent j ; some, such as Daldina concentrica arid species of"aritehnairia, are /black; others, such as Polyporus nivicolor,, are of the;- purest white, I with a delicate virgin unsullied appearance/ which tliey often I lo&© in; even /the most . delicate drying some, such ,as species of fomes, of anormous size and of v aberrant ■; onti, from >'2ft. .to 3ft. ■; long, thick in propoiiion, and 'no two specimens of the. aaibe/species, alike ; r in): shape; others are very ; regular, 1 !: like little round, black shining bsads, .or the /minutii;-- cup-' shaped flowers, clustered together, or like ' miniature ,■;. bird,' ;;' ■. nests ;■ with.';!: eggs, as cyathus , and crucibukm { some ; ; are very hard, : also perennial, so- that an axe makes little impression on them; ':} others very : soft i and ephemeral, -dissolving into /a [watery ; mass of their own ; accord in a few hours of their first sprouting. \'

"A few species, such, as fuligo, i when fresh, : resemble a lights custard pudding, which, with careful drying, turns to dust; others :i have tho appearance of a delicate branching blancmange, which, when carefully dried, ileaves .no • visible- residuum except a' dull, .shining ,mark on, white paper- as if a slug or a ' snail had sojourned there. f: Some ;[ are cancellated, hollow -and- light like .fine ' network or ,lattice-work; others: are solid arid/heavy. Some are so tough, that thjy are gathered from 'a matrix or substance to /which they I adhere with difficulty; are - as fragile that they , are found ;in -perfection only where neither winds; nor rains reach; them, and, although 'several inches : long, they /cannot be laid hold of or removed ;except with [the greatest caution and the tenderest handling." For those gossamerIske productions ,;' Mr. : > ; Oolenso. /-.usually carried a little tin box lined: with silver paper/ or : blotting paper, and he cut them down and drooled them jin without: touching them. Evj?n[that delicate trmtmeßt was too coarse 1 some, [such. as species of stemonitis. ? He admired their prettiness in their [recluse[abodes, but ■ found that the slieht movement in the air caused by his : putting ,/■ forth bis hand: toward them- often was 'sufficient/ to break them up into a cloud of spores.

** At ■ our old home, ' Heatfcerlea,' Ti\, ! i t : Tihorw, abcilt ]&*?-, :K-"W88 wa,i,!e?mp <?;■> ft,, one he. I ' cam*"aci'osa ''■ a dead f we«jai and , a foot awny from ■ it a dead kingfisher," Mr, Donald K."; Porter -writes; ; rom Auckland. "The grass around, a space of liboaSj a yard was very much',: ruffled,* as : though fee ■:. animal: and ! bird: had fought* ■!'»;; : wry* sever* battle. Th> vraAsfu bart; owfr of ■' its eyes ont iend. the fisher? had one;, foot bitten off. ; -It *& peared to me S that: the -weasel;: won;: by felling the , kingfisher, and th«a s toll owra ,o»,c'l <Ue<| ft* wossd* ' ' . , .1 1 '■■■'• ■■] ; -■'.-^'■•:.•■''.:,.■■' ■" ;'■'• ;'''■'' "■ | '^'v"' ;: ''. ; .' ■■^■•■wSSSS •-.■•• '. . ■~ ■■■.•■■• -' .. " ~■'. ■ -: ; - - .■■;■;•. .-:; m . . .•.&•::; .•■•:,-..■.;-:: "-;^