Fungi

This watercolour was painted by Flora Martin (1845–1923), a pioneering Australian fungi collector and researcher. Paintings like this one are more than just pretty pictures – they play an important role in scientific documentation by showing us how the sporing body looked when it was fresh.

Because fungi often look very different once dried, keeping a record of their fresh appearance makes a preserved specimen much more useful. While collectors in the past might have drawn or painted the fresh fungus, today collectors frequently photograph the fungi they find in situ, like this Podaxis pistillaris.

The N.E.M. Walters Fungal Collection is a nationally significant collection of wood decay fungi that was formerly housed at the CSIRO Division of Forest Products. It is used for research into wood preservation and the decay of timber. These tiny sporing bodies of Trametes velutina were found growing on a fallen branch near Kallista in outer Melbourne.

Fungi do not just grow in the soil, or rot wood, they can also parasitise insects! These newly emerged cicadas were infected with the microscopic spores of Beauveria bassiana, which causes white muscardine disease. This fungus is under investigation as a potential insecticide to control malariatransmitting mosquitoes.

Mycologists at the herbarium play an important role in helping identify poisonous mushrooms. Our collection includes many culprits that have caused tummy aches or worse, like this specimen of the poisonous Ghost Fungus, Omphalotus nidiformis, which was mistaken for the edible Oyster Mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus.

All fungi reproduce by spores, but they have different ways of producing them. Common edible mushrooms like Agaricus bisporus, or button mushrooms, produce spores in pinkish-brown gills underneath the cap. Other mushrooms, like this specimen of Boletellus emodensis, or Shaggy Cap, produce their spores on a porous surface.

Researchers at RBGV recently discovered a new population of the critically endangered fungus Hypocreopsis amplectans, or Teatree Fingers. Because it is so rare, herbarium specimens of the whole sporing body hadn’t been collected in 30 years. With three populations now being monitored, two new specimens have been prepared, balancing the needs of conservation research while minimising harm to the living population.

As scientific methods evolve, the herbarium needs to look after new types of material. These vials contain tissue cultures of the endangered Tea-tree Fingers fungus and its host, which are kept frozen at -80 °C. These living cultures act as ‘insurance’ for the species, providing a source of genetic diversity that can be reintroduced to wild populations in future.