Fascinating Fungi

Rainforests are good at doing fungi. Fungus is everywhere. That distinctive rainforest smell is from the breaking down of dead leaves, trees, insects, animals and shrubbery by the underestimated and overlooked little plants - the fungi. They come in all sorts of colours, even luminescent white which glows in the dark.

I would love to get a photo of one of them, but I'm definitely not about to start walking around in rainforests at night. Like I said yesterday, I'm an arachnophobe, and at night you can't see where the webs are. Give me deadly snakes any day, but harmless spiders. . . eeek! Mind you, I've overcome a lot of my irrational fear. Once upon a time I could not even look at a spider from a safe distance without breaking out in a sweat. I couldn't even touch a photograph of one. (Shudder. . . it's alright, I'm okay, really).
Anyway back to the fungi. They are very much NOT creepy, crawly. They perform a very necessary and useful role in the world and they are often very beautiful.

BUT, sometimes I'm in awe of the amazing mimicry in nature. You know, the trick of one organism to look like something completely different. The beautiful lacy fellow below is a member of the stinkhorn family of fungi (genus - Phallus, snicker, snicker) also known as maiden veil fungi. Mr Sunshine spotted it and probably wondered why I got so excited about it. They hardly last any time at all. So to find one so fresh and in pristine condition, not beginning to rot yet, was serendipitous to say the least.

Queen Stuss, I hope you enjoy my fungi. Fungi lovers are a rare breed!