Autumn brings a little torrential rain

On Friday and Saturday, 6 and 7 March, Wellington had a couple of torrential downpours. It was probably too much too quickly for much of it to soak into the soil. And the dry warm weather is predicted to continue through March

Flooding on Brooklyn Road, Mount Cook, Wellington. [photo Rebecca Thomson]

The rain did bring a small flush of mushrooms in the fuchsia border in the Wellington Botanic Garden. The fuchsia border is irrigated a couple of times a week so was primed and ready to go when the weather turned a bit cooler and wetter last Friday.

The main flush was a Psilocybe. It looks similar to Psilocybe subaeruginosa which is known to fruit in garden mulched with wood chips like the fuchsia border. Here the Psilocybe is fruiting amongst Fuchsia procumbens.

Psilocybe aff. subaeruginosa [photo Geoff Ridley]

Psilocybe aff. subaeruginosa [photo Geoff Ridley]

Young fruitbodies of Psilocybe aff. subaeruginosa [photo Geoff Ridley]

Psilocybe aff. subaeruginosa [photo Geoff Ridley]

Psilocybe aff. subaeruginosa spore print [photo Geoff Ridley]

 These specimens are similar in all features to Psilocybe subaeruginosa (Johnston and Buchanan, 1995)except that it does not bruise blue or green-blue when handled or crushed. I am not sure how universal this characteristic is of the species.

PS: Since publishing this blog Jerry Cooper has suggested that it might be Leratiomyces squamosus. These little brown and black spored species are trying at the best of times. I had considered the genus Leratiomyces as there did not seem to be any substantial ring on the stem and no scales on the cap. I will have to keep an eye out for some new specimens.

Also seen again was the know very old fruitbody of Scleroderma albidum which featured in a blog six weeks ago (see here).

Scleroderma albidum [photo Geoff Ridley]

And a single mushroom of harefoot inkcap [Coprinopsis lagopus].

Coprinopsis lagopus [photo Geoff Ridley]

 Reference

Donoghue T, 2015. More wild weather expected in central New Zealand Stuff.co.nz Link here

Johnston PR, Buchanan PK, 1995. The genus Psilocybe (Agaricales) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 379-388. Link here