New Zealand Fungi and Lichens

DSC_2590 Common purple pouch fungus (Cortinarius violaceovolvatus var. viola) a pouch fungus in the gilled genus Cortinarius, common in beech litter. To date, seven different, unrelated species of purple pouch fungus have been described here in NZ. Pouch fungi as a group, have lost the ability of their gilled relatives, to shed spores to the wind. Many other pouch fungi are also 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. Catlins River *

DSC2590Royalpurplepouch fungusCortinariusporphyroideusfungiCatlins River