Australian fungi
Photographs of Australian macro fungi found principally in New South Wales, and South East Australia by Jamie Derkenne. High resolution images are freely available upon request. All fungi images on this site may be used without charge so long as they are attributed. Use the search function to look for particular species or keywords. (eg Boletus in soil). The accuracy of the names or descriptions is in no way guaranteed. If you think something has been mis-identified, please contact me.
Physarum polycephalum
Physarum polycephalum is the spore stage of a yellowish slime mould which forms purple grape like clusters up to 15mm long on the underside of very damp dead wood, near Bluey's Gulch, Upper Allyn, October 2011. Accrding to Wikipedia, Physarum polycephalum has been shown to exhibit intelligent characteristics similar to those seen in single-celled creatures and eusocial insects.
A team of Japanese and Hungarian researchers claims that a specimen of P. polycephalum was able to navigate a maze made of agar using the shortest route possible when two pieces of food were placed at two separate exits of the maze. By repeatedly making the test environment of a specimen of P. polycephalum cold and dry for 60-minute intervals, Hokkaido University biophysicists discovered that the slime mould appears to anticipate the pattern by reacting to the conditions when they did not repeat the conditions for the next interval. Upon repeating the conditions, it would react to expect the 60-minute intervals, as well as testing with 30- and 90-minute intervals. Picture ref: 1921 Gallery ref: 38
