The bush around Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park is typical South Island beech forest (Nothofagus species). A relaxing place for a day on the lake, even in the autumn. These hillsides won’t be showing autumn colours, New Zealand’s beech species are evergreen.
Nelson Lakes National Park
This is the velvet bolete (Porphyrellus formosus) and I haven’t been able to find out much about it besides the fact that it has pores rather than gills; that’s the reason for the “bolete” part of its name. The colour of the cap is a dark black-brown that looks smooth and velvety.
This eye-catching cluster of orange toadstools is possibly Amanita muscaria, whose common name is fly agaric. “Agaric” simply means it’s a mushroom with gills on the underside of the cap, and the “fly” part of the name comes from its use to kill flies in parts of Europe. Poisonous to flies, poisonous to us. Fly agaric starts [...]
This is Russula kermesina. The genus name Russula comes from “russus”, a Latin word for red, and members of the genus are known for sporting bright caps. The species name kermesina means crimson. This specimen’s crimson cap sitting atop its white stem made it easy to spot in the late day sun on a walk at Lake Rotoiti. Russula [...]
What looks like dead wood that’s been spray painted is actually caused by a fungus called Chlorociboria. The blue-green stain is a metabolite called xylindein. Historically, wood stained green by Chlorociboria has been valued for inlaid woodwork. This American Scientist article on The Fine Art of Decay talks about woodworking with fungal pigments.
This is Alphonso and he’s the loneliest duck in the world. He’s a Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) and he turned up at Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park in the spring of 2014, origins unknown. Mandarin ducks aren’t native to New Zealand, there isn’t an introduced population and it’s unlikely he found his [...]
