Roldana Petasitis - Velvet Groundsel - 2/8/14

This plant is growing in the bush against the side of the house and started flowering week or so before I took the photos. The starbursts of tiny yellow flowers are pretty stunning in the bush but I also really like the shape of the leaves. Up close the plant seems a bit straggly and messy although maybe it’s just the ones at our place - the parts seem more interesting than the whole. When you’re standing back and just see the flowers in amongst the bush they look great.

It’s a member of the daisy family, so the flowers are shaped like daisies. I managed to identify it with the help of the amazing Weeds Key on the Landcare Research website - you get a list of identifying features of the plant and tick as many as possible after which it gives you various possible options for what sort of plant it is. Fortunately there are photos of most of them to help.

Roldana Petasitis is considered a weed in New Zealand, mostly because it pushes out native plants. It comes from Mexico and Central America (although the Auckland Council website says South Africa), where it grows in tropical mountainous areas. How it came to New Zealand I don’t know

Originally called Senecio petasitis, it was renamed by Dr. Pablo de La Llave (1773 – 1833), a Mexican priest and naturalist. He gave the plant the name Roldana to honor Eugenio Montaña y Roldan Otumbensi, who died in 1825 and was thought to be a hero in a battle on the plains of Apam near Mexico City. 

At our place there is just one patch of the plants but I’ve seen a few others around, including one section that has several bushes at the front of the property that look quite stunning in flower. In fact a couple of the photos are of that plant, although the flowers had lost most of their pollen by the time I went there.

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/plants/weeds-key

http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=2580

http://longwoodgardens.org/roldana-petasites

Auricularia Cornea 17/7/14

One of the most fascinating aspects of mushrooms is the juxtaposition between growth and decay. Fungi, like animals, need to absorb energy from the surrounding environment, but in doing this they aid the breakdown of wood which can then be broken down further to create soil… and so it goes on. (humming “the circle of life”…).

There's a great book I've been reading called Mycellium Running by Paul Stamets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium_Running) that talks about how important fungi are in the ecosystem and how much the fungal networks support and sustain trees and plants. It seems the complex role of fungi has only begun to be appreciated in the last generation and there is lots to be learnt about how they can be used to restore degraded environments and be used as part of sustainable practices in farming, forestry and general land management.

Aside from that it’s been fascinating trying to muddle through researching the mushrooms that I’ve found. From photos on New Zealand websites I’ve identified these as Auricularea Cornea (Woodear mushrooms), although they also looks like Auricularia polytricha, and are similar to Auricularea auricula-judae (Jews ear fungus). I’m actually not sure if these are all slightly different species, or just different names for the same mushrooms. But it seems like they’re pretty common and found in many parts of the world. They’re also edible, although I didn’t find that out for a while and now they aren’t looking so tasty!

The most interesting thing I’ve found about these fungi is that because they are edible and also used in Chinese medicine they were a major export from Taranaki in the 1870s. Chinese immigrant Chew Chong (Chau Tseung?) settled in New Plymouth after he discovered how prolific the fungi were there and set up an export business which made his fortune and resulted in Taranaki becoming known as the ‘fungus province’. Woodear mushrooms continued to be exported until the 1960s when the Taiwanese worked out how to cultivate them on sawdust.

A more detailed account of the story can be found here: http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/fungi-te-henui/jews-ear-fungi.html

Ok, stay tuned for the next installment which is not a mushroom!

Favolashia calocera — Orange pore fungus 14/7/14

These guys are pretty easy to spot because they’re so bright and there isn’t much else in the bush that orange. I found them down the back of the section growing on some fallen beech tree. I took some photos there in the bush but then brought one of the branches out into the light to try and get some better photos - is this cheating? Anyway, what surprised me is how different the colour was, much redder under the canopy and  more of a yellow-orange where there is more light.

Ok, apart from being very cute the most interesting thing I found about orange pore fungi is that they were first observed in Madagascar. It’s not known for sure if they originated there or came from somewhere else in Asia, but now they’ve spread through a number countries including Australia and Aotearoa. The worrying part is that, like other introduced species, it’s possible that they’re displacing native fungi.

Which just opens up a bunch of other questions, such as how did the orange pore fungus get to Aotearoa? Have any fungi been introduced on purpose e.g. by the Acclimatisation Societies (which I’m sure I’ll get to in due course). Maybe the field mushrooms that we buy in the supermarket? And which fungi are native to Aotearoa? Are any of them endangered or being displaced by introduced fungi?

So plenty more to learn about fungi, as well as all the other plants around the section.