DSC_2596 Royal pouch fungus (Cortinarius porphyroideus) a pouch fungus common in beech litter, and discovered to be a close relative of the gill genus Cortinarius. Pouch fungi as a group, have lost the ability of their gilled relatives, to shed spores to the wind. Many pouches are brightly coloured, and more typical of fruit eaten by birds. Indeed native ground birds probably eat pouch fungi, thereby dispersing the spores through their faeces. Boyle River *
DSC_8931 Blue pouch fungus (Clavogaster virescens) large, pale blue spindle-shaped cap with a stout yellow stem. Colourful pouched fungi such as these have evolved several times, from various gilled species, which scatter their spores in the wind. It is thought pouch fungi rely instead on native ground birds, to consume the fungi and pass the spores out in their faeces. Leith Saddle, Dunedin *
DSC_8928 Blue pouch fungus (Clavogaster virescens) large, pale blue spindle-shaped cap with a stout yellow stem. Colourful pouched fungi such as these have evolved several times, from various gilled species, which scatter their spores in the wind. It is thought pouch fungi rely instead on native ground birds, to consume the fungi and pass the spores out in their faeces. Leith Saddle, Dunedin *
