Case Studies

Snippets, Stories and Studies

The Snippets, Stories and Studies constitute a mixed bag of fungal matters. They are not essential for a good understanding of fungi, but add some interesting extra information - sometimes serious, sometimes humorous. They vary greatly in both length and subject matter. Some are obviously light-hearted snippets (such as the cartoon about a little knowledge) while others are longer summaries of research studies (such as the paper of corticioid fungi on wooden fences). In between there are less technical stories, such as the one about several millennia of desert truffles.

This page serves as the contents page for the Snippets, Stories and Studies and gives links to them. Below each link there is a one-sentence comment, either a very pithy summary of, or a tempter to, the corresponding linked page. I have not tried to categorize them but have listed them alphabetically by title and the titles and comments should let you see if a particular topic is of interest to you.

1800s children's encyclopaedia...
...which included several colour plates showing fungi

A cartoon...
...on the theme of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.

Armillaria mellea in South Africa
This destructive European species was found in South Africa in 1996 - but arrived much, much earlier.

Asterophora - mushrooms on mushrooms
Mushrooms of the genus Asterophora are found growing only on other mushrooms.

Beatrix Potter...
...an amateur mycologist with a scientific approach.

Cricked neck mushrooms
Why do some mushroom paintings show the caps at strange angles to the stem?

Crinipellis australis
This species, seemingly an Australian native grassland specialist, can survive drying out and will continue sporing after being re-wetted.

Desert truffles - Australia and the Kalahari
In both Central Australia and the Kalahari the indigenous people have a long history of truffle hunting.

Desert truffles - Middle East and Mediterranean
These have long been well-known in the dry lands of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Drummond's luminous fungus
Some early observations of Omphalotus nidiformis, very striking in the dark.

Duke and the poachers
An 18th century duke got fed up with poachers who pretended to be mushroom collectors.

French pharmacy booklets
These simple booklets aimed to help people avoid collecting poisonous species.

Lane Cove Bushland Park
The first fungal heritage site to be listed on the Register of the National Estate of Australia

Le Petit Journal
In 1896 this popular French newspaper published colour pictures of fungi as a "service to our readers".

Lightning Ridge swimming pool
What's a mushroom doing in the swimming pool?

Lynx's view
What does the perspicacious lynx say about fungi?

Megafaunal extinctions and fungal spores
Fungal spores can help throw light on megafaunal extinctions.

Microporus xanthopus
Some observations about fruiting body development and sporing in this species.

Monkey food
A species of Amazonian monkey has a predilection for fungi.

Mycological bookplate
The title says it all.

Safety, fraud and regulations
Some fungal frauds and regulations from 1782 to the early 20th century.

Streamside erosion
Float, float, float your hyphae gently down the stream.

Toadstools...
...are not so-called because of this.

Two mushroom guides...
...which give their aims pithily or in verse

Valentine's Day
Do you think there is no romance in fungi?

Wooden fences
Wooden fences offer a specialized niche for corticioid fungi.

Yoruba people and their fungi
A little about the fungi of the Yoruba people of Africa.