Mysterious find growing in forest concerns Aussies: 'They're everywhere'
The tufts of bright fungi emerging from the wood were seen at Stephensons Falls in Victoria’s Otway Ranges earlier this week.
A “striking” orange growth found by a hiker sprinkled across a damp, rotting log on a forest floor has left some Aussies “quite concerned”.
The tufts of bright fungi emerging from the wood were spotted near the popular tourist attraction Stephensons Falls in Victoria’s Otway Ranges earlier this week.
Intrigued by their distinct appearance, the hiker took to social media to find out what species it possibly could be. However, he was stunned when members of a Facebook fungi identification group revealed it was “an invasive fungal species that is spreading quickly” across the state.
“[They are] honestly everywhere. I’ve been seeing them all over the place this April…quite concerning,” one person explained.
“They’re such a cute mushroom, it’s a shame they’re spreading so quickly though!” another person wrote.
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Dr Tom May, senior mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, confirmed to Yahoo News Australia the tiny orange mushrooms are Favolaschia Claudopus, more commonly known as orange pore fungus, and are not native to Australia.
“It is a striking orange fungus — beautiful, but an unwanted introduction to Australia,” he said. “It first popped up in a few bushland reserves in Melbourne in 2004.”
Within a decade or two of it first being observed in Australia, the orange pore fungus had spread to multiple locations across the country, from south-east Queensland to Tasmania and also in south-west Western Australia, he explained.
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“It is now very common in native bushland and can be considered a fungal weed,” Dr May said. “It was presumably imported from its native range — perhaps on timber products, such as pallets — but it really is a bit of a mystery exactly how it got here.”
Dr May said that because the species decays dead organic matter, more specifically large pieces of fallen woody debris, each place it occupies could be taking away food supply for a native wood decay fungus.
“In future, we need to act more quickly to detect and eradicate exotic fungi. The rapid spread of the parasitic fungus Myrtle Rust shows how damaging exotic fungi can be for native plants.” Myrtle Rust is a fungus disease that infects native plants like eucalyptus, willow myrtle, turpentine, bottlebrush, and paperbark trees.
According to the Queensland Mycological Society, the orange pore fungus may be transferred from one area to another by the spores sticking to someone’s hands, boots or clothing, so hikers visiting national parks are urged to to be careful.
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