New Zealand Fungi and Lichens

DSC_2594 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 *