Fungi of Australia

International Associated acts The fungi of Australia form an enormous and diverse group, encompassing a huge range of freshwater, marine and terrestrial habitats with many ecological roles, including saprobes, parasites and mutualistic symbionts of algae, animals and plants, as well as agents of biodeterioration.

He was assisted by such people as Edwin Cheel, keeper of the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Leonard Rodway of Tasmania and Phyllis Clarke (later North), who provided some watercolour paintings.

[11] Commonly called ascomycetes, this group, the Ascomycota, is likely to be the largest fungal phylum in Australia in terms of species numbers.

Australia's ascomycetes include some large and conspicuous fungi, but the fruiting bodies produced by most species are less than about 1 cm in their largest dimension.

Partly because of their importance in forestry, species associated with Eucalyptus trees have received considerable attention and, with hundreds known to be associated with some of the more studied tree species, it is clear that these fungi form a huge, complex and important component of Australia's forests.

Australia's native truffles (subterranean ascomycetes) form another distinct and interesting group which remains poorly known.

Reasons for this include the brief and unpredictable appearance of fruiting bodies, often the only evidence of most species, and the fact that there has been comparatively little scientific attention focused upon fungi in Australia.

[16] The genus Amanita has been the subject of two reviews but a microscope is still needed to distinguish many species and coverage has concentrated in Australia's eastern regions.

[17][18] Alec Wood has also published a study of the genus Galerina, describing 29 species, 21 of them new, primarily in New South Wales.

[19] A more usual state of affairs is that reported by Roy Watling with regard to boletes, that in Australia, it appears to be rich in species yet only a minority are described.

[20] With the notable exception of the gigantic Phlebopus marginatus, possibly Australia's largest mushroom, many of the most conspicuous fungi have been introduced in association with exotic soil and trees; Lactarius deliciosus, Chalciporus piperatus, Suillus luteus and Suillus granulatus are European fungi found in pine plantations in Eastern Australia.

There are concerns at least one of them, Amanita muscaria is spreading into (and forming new mycorrhizal associations with) native Nothofagus woodland and possibly displacing local species.