Sounds almost like a David Bowie song, doesn't it? John and I were walking with friends in one of our QEII Trust bush reserves here at Struan Farm a few days ago. I looked down on the path, and found this:
Quite unusual, isn't it? Unlike anything I've seen around the property before. We decided it must be a fungus of some sort based on texture vs. something that had dropped off a tree. I checked my trusty fungi reference guide, "Mushrooms and Other Fungi of New Zealand" by Geoff Ridley, and confirmed this right away: "Velvet Earthstar, Geastrum triplex."
It turns out that "earthstars" are a type of puffball in which the fruit-body wall is made of three layers. The outer wall splits and curls back like a star. Spores are puffed out when raindrops (or Karen's finger) hit the inner puffball.
Yep, we just keep learning about the natural world around us here at Struan Farm! And p.s. I took Velvet Earthstar back to where I found her, on the ground in the bush.
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