As the wet season rain continues to soak the forest around Paluma, new and interesting mushrooms just keep appearing! Rosie Gillespie recently found this striking white and warty mushroom on the range road and its distinctive ornamentation certainly makes it worth sharing. This particular mushroom proved relatively easy to identify. It is Amanita pyramidifera – or the Pyramid Builder Lepidella. It is found in eastern Australia in moist sites associated with eucalyptus forests or rainforest.
If you see any more interesting mushrooms that you would like to share or identify please feel free to send them to me.
Members (and prospective members) are advised that the Annual General Meeting of the Paluma & District Community Association Inc. will be held on:
Saturday,April 1, 2023, at 12pm for a BBQ lunch followed by the AGM at 1:15pm in the Community Hall
Nominations are open for all Executive Committee positions. Nominations should be forwarded to any member of the Executive Committee or by email to PalumaPDCA@gmail.com. Please use the nomination forms, which can be downloaded here.
Positions are:
President,
1 or 2 Vice-Presidents
Secretary
Treasurer
General Committee members (numbers flexible)
Members are reminded that Annual Subscriptions are now due and should be paid prior to the commencement of the AGM. Membership is $45.00 Please use the subscription form here to submit your dues. New members are more than welcome and should use the same form.
Please note that you must be a PDCA member to nominate someone to the Committee or vote for any Committee member.
The AGM will be followed immediately by a normal General Meeting with the new Committee.
A couple of weeks ago, Juanita and I decided to go out for a quick night walk around Lennox Cr. The rain put a bit of a dampener on our plans, so we just walked around the house shining our UV torches. We weren’t expecting to see much wildlife but the visual display just from shining torches on our house walls and doors was still amazing. Here’s a sample that looks like it could be on display in a museum of abstract art …
The black squiggly lines on both images are the feeding trails of our Paluma semi-slug which love eating the algae and lichen off our wall.
or a display of images from the Hubble or Webb telescope.
Spider webs add an extra dimension to these images.
After rounding the corner to the other side of the house, we encountered a house gecko, which would normally not be much to get excited about. But the combination of this lizard’s nearly transparent skin, and the fact that bones fluoresce under UV meant that we were treated to an eerie but fascinating x-ray view.
Never a dull moment in Paluma at night if you have a UV torch!
After several seasons of reporting (by various authors) on interesting mushrooms that pop up around Paluma each season, I would have thought there would be fewer new varieties to report on this year, but so far my mushrooming efforts have not suffered the fate of diminishing returns.
Here is a selection of some of my new finds this year.
Hygrocybe cf miniata
Every year with out fail one of the more common mushrooms along the rainforest tracks is the small Vermillion waxcaps (Hygrocybe sp – possibly H. miniata). I have published pictures of these before. But there are other beautiful red species that can be found if you look carefully. One of my favourites is the tiny Redbonnet, with a delicate shiny viscous cap and slender stem. Often overlooked because of its size, it is common in many gardens as well as along the tracks.
Top:Ruby Bonnet (Crentomycena viscidocruenta). Bottom Blackening Waxcap (Hygrocybe astatogala). Bottom right photo by Ray Palmer on Flickr
Another less common but striking red mushroom is the Blackening waxcap (Hygrocybe astatogala). It gets its common name from the fact that it turns increasingly black with age. The bottom left hand photo is a fairly fresh specimen found by Juanita at McClelland’s lookout, with a stem showing faint black streaks. After a few days it can turn entirely jet black as shown in the adjacent image by Ray Palmer from a specimen near Cairns. Both phases are strikingly beautiful.
Some other classic gilled mushrooms (Agarics) I’ve found in the last few weeks are shown below. The orange Gymnopilis was growing on a log in my garden, while the unusual burnt yellow mushroom (Oudemansiella flavo-olivacea) was growing on the roadside next to the High Ropes Course. The last mushroom in this group is an Amanita found in the Banksi/Casuarina forest near Witts Lookout.
The last two fungi for this article both share the common name coral fungi based on their shape, which is similar to some corals, but they are not in any way related. The large white bushy specimen is Artomycessp growing on a log behind Potters Park. It belongs to the order Russulales along with the very different False Turkey tail (Stereum ostrea) that I have previously written about in the 5 easy species series. The red club-shaped fungi is Clavulinopsis sp (probably the sulcata group) which is in the family Clavariaceae in the order Agaricales, which is the group that contains mostly gilled fungi.
Two very different and totally unrelated coral fungi. Left: Artomyces sp. Right Clavulinopsis sp (probably in the sucata group); photo by Juanita Poletto.
If you come across any interesting Fungi that you would like to identify I would be happy to give it a try, or refer it back to some of the facebook experts that have helped me for this article. Just take a picture from the top and side, as well as one of the underside of the cap. I am sure that there are dozens more spectacular fungi to be found around Paluma and it would be great to share them with others through this website.
Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver
When Townsville City Council decided years ago to introduce a recycling system, outlying suburbs such as Paluma and Alligator Creek were not included as it was considered that community support in these areas was not sufficient to warrant their trucks to travel that far.
The Paluma Environmental Education Centre, therefore, decided to set up and incorporate a recycling system into their environmental education curriculum, organizing a recycling station at the Catholic Education Centre (Gumbaroo) with yellow-lidded bins provided by the Townsville City Council. A council truck would travel to Paluma to empty these eight bins, with the cost for this service being charged to PEEC. Over the years the charge for this service has risen annually and last stood at $400, making it very expensive with council indicating another increase on the way. This also caused occasions where all the bins were full and recyclables were left on the ground.
Part-time resident, Wilfred Karnoll volunteered in mid 2022 to transport any full bins to and empty them at the council-operated recycling depot at the Stuart dump free of charge on his way home to his other residence at Alligator Creek. As the bins are the large 300 liter type they have to be emptied manually at the site and the recycled material has to be placed into the standard 200liter yellow lid bins and paper/cardboard containers. The Paluma bins are regularly monitored to ensure there is always space available, all bins full to overflowing should therefore be a thing of the past. He’s asking all residents to read and adhere to the list of Do’s and Don’t’s outlined below to make his job as easy as possible.
DO’S and DON’T’S for PALUMA RECYCLING
All recyclables are to be placed into bins loose, not bagged or in cartons.
Fill bins completely in order from left to right, that way we don’t end up with 8 bins half full.
Do not overfill bins, lids have to sit flat to keep rain out, any moisture in the bins causes soggy paper/cardboard, as well as mould, smell and rust.
All food containers must be rinsed out and drained of any liquid.
All lids must be removed from all bottles and plastic containers and discarded, as they are considered a contaminant.
Place glass bottles into the bins gently, if dropped from height they may break any glass containers already in the bins.
Paper should be a minimum size of A5, (half the size of a standard A4) and should be flat, not scrunched up. No small arts and crafts remnants, please.
All cartons must be flattened by undoing the glued flaps at top and bottom or by removing the sticky tape, don’t try to flatten them by crushing them, as it doesn’t work and only creates a bulky mess.
Any items smaller than a credit card or fist should not be recycled as they have very little recycling value but create a lot of extra work.
Paluma after dark is a riot of colour if you go rambling with a black light (UV) torch.
Fungi and lichen on a letter box and a clump of palms at the start of Lennox Crescent light up like a coral reef under black light and there’s plenty more to be seen (animal and vegetable) along the walking tracks.
Under the blacklight at #56 this week this scorpion from damp lumber in the front yard lit up brilliantly for the camera of Jay Deagon, Jan Cooke’s niece.
Photo by Jay Deagon. (Canon EOSR7, with RF100 Macro, lighting from a Lumenshooter UV torch)
Jamie Oliver went online and found two possible species locally — Lychas variatus a species of marbled scorpions or another rainforest scorpion, perhaps Hormurus waigiensis.
Jay’s image seems to be the Lychas, much more gracile than the Hormurus.
Google tells us that all scorpions fluoresce under black light or even under strong natural moonlight. and no one is quite sure why.
“The blue-green glow comes from a substance found in the hyaline layer, a very thin but super tough coating in a part of the scorpion’s exoskeleton called the cuticle.
“Scientists have noticed that, right after a scorpion molts, or sheds its shell, it doesn’t glow until the new cuticle hardens. …
“Whatever its source, the glowing property is surprisingly long-lasting. When scorpions are preserved in alcohol, the liquid itself sometimes glows under UV light. And the hyaline layer is amazingly durable: It can survive millions of years … even fossilized hyaline fluoresces.
“Still, scientists don’t know what purpose the fluorescence serves. Some theories:
Last year, Michele published an article on a spectacular bluish purple mushroom popping up on the village green.
Earlier this week I noticed that the same purple mushroom was now growing as a fairy ring over 5m in diameter out in the open area of the village green. A semi-circle of large light mauve mushrooms was quite a sight.
After a misidentification by me last year, the correct name Lepista sublilacina was provided by Barry and Jenn Muir from Cairns. It has been called the Australian Blewit. A closely related species (or possibly the same species as) is the Lilac Blewit (L. sordida) which is a common edible northern hemisphere species that is known to form fairy rings. Both species are recognised by the Atlas of Living Australia and have been recorded in Queensland but the characters used to distinguish the two species are not readily available from a web search. They are commonly found on lawns and gardens.
There are at least two websites in Australia that suggest the Lepistra sublilacina/sordida is edible but my recommendation would be not to try to eat them until you have conducted your own investigation on this.
This species is just one of many that have been popping up all around Paluma. I will dedicate a separate post to these in the near future.
Yesterday’s working bee to refurbish the steps at the far end of the “Rainforest Walk” attracted a great turnout. There was a total of 10 people, 3 wheelbarrows, a generator and a cement mixer all working solidly for a couple of hours to fill in the new step frames and drainage channels that Wilfred and Colin had previously set up. The final result looked very impressive. Even the existing wooden bridges and platforms along the track got a major cleanup. We finished the effort back at the Community Centre congratulating ourselves with some well-earned drinks.
It was agreed that we should aim for a regular working bee on the first Saturday of every month to carry out various maintenance and improvement projects around the city. Look out for announcements on Paluma.org
For more than a year several people have raised the possiblity of creating a facebook group for Paluma residents to post notices to others about items for sale or even to let people know of an opportunity to share costs for bringing a plumber or electrician up to the village to do some work.
Well Stella Thompson-Wheway has recently taken the initiative to create just such a group. It’s called Paluma Buy, Sell, Swap and Give away and she is inviting all Paluma residents to join up. The link above should take you there, or else just use the search function to find the group (using “Paluma Buy Sell” in the search box should do it).
There’s already one item for give away on the site, and I am sure more posts like it will follow soon.
Many thanks to Stella for setting this up for the Community.
It’s not every day that a new commercial enterprise opens in Paluma, especially one that offers accommodation and meals in a beautiful rainforest setting. Mark and Leonie Crennan have been working tirelessly over the last year to refurbish the old Paluma Dreaming (and Heaven’s Kitchen) café at 1 Loop Road.
The new name, Djindal Bayanyu, was the result of many hours of research and consultation by Leonie, who wanted to acknowledge the original inhabitants of Paluma. The name means Singing Waterfalls in Nywaigi, which is the language group of the traditional owners who thrived for centuries in the abundant rainforest and pristine creeks of our spectacular mountain range.
Djindal Bayanyu will be open from 10:30am to 3pm Thursday – Sunday (and Wednesday this week) for excellent coffee, tea and sweet and savoury treats. Accommodation is also available with ensuite bathroom and kitchenette, or you can access shared facilities.
In addition to the refurbished interiors of the rooms and café, the garden has received a range of new plantings of native and ornamental trees and shrubs and artful landscaping. Their gardening efforts were recently recognised with an award in this year’s Paluma Garden Competition.
Ring or text 0490397650 to book accommodation or check cafe opening times.
