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Even collectively, yesterday’s three heroes were comprehensively dwarfed by any single one of the adjacent, large leaves.
This post’s mushroom is enormously bigger and heavier.
My unscientific guesstimate is that its mass would exceed that of all three of yesterday’s ‘shrooms by at least several thousand percent.
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Most of the world’s fungal mass are mycelia – tubular filaments/threads which “network”, forming mycelium.
Reminiscent of hair or neurons, those filaments/threads are called hyphae.
You won’t see mycelium in this series – it is an invisible presence, within the earth, timber and leaf litter.
However, it is worth remembering that fungi are like icebergs – what we see is only a small portion of their selves.
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If you are partial to mosses and fungi, the premier South Australian place is the floor of the old-growth stringybark forest in Deep Creek National Park.
The best time to go there is midwinter, in a cool, wet winter.
It is less than two hours’ easy driving away from Adelaide, but in a “proper winter” this forest “feels” like another planet.
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In Australian places with a Mediterranean-type climate, Spring is “wildflower season”.
However, in virtually any patch of quasi-natural “bush” – most especially, where the soils are sandy and “poor” – at least some species will be flowering, whenever you visit.
Deep Creek National Park’s stringybark forest is one such place.
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This post’s images are cropped versions of the very same photos that appeared in the immediately preceding post.
The closer the view, the more readily-evident is the fact that these plants are predators.
Above and below, you have a good view of their “dew” (which is not dew) and of some of the lured victims in the “killing field”, in various stages of being “dissolved”/ “absorbed”/ devoured.
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This post’s Drosera species really “look the part” – as meat-eaters, who kill.
Plants in general – not just sundews and other carnivorous plants – are a deal less “peaceful” than many humans imagine.
Plants’ “race” for light, space, water and nutrients is not an “everybody wins something” event,
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Even within a single vicinity, different Drosera species can be remarkably different from each other – in size, colour, and general appearance.
However, this description fits all “sundews”:
Sundews are “flypaper” plants that trap prey in sticky hairs on their leaves. They make up one of the largest groups of carnivorous plants. Long tentacles protrude from their leaves, each with a sticky gland at the tip. These droplets look like dew glistening in the sun, thus their name. The glands produce nectar to attract prey, powerful adhesive to trap it, and enzymes to digest it. Once an insect becomes stuck, nearby tentacles coil around the insect and smother it.
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Q: what does this post, the previous post, and the next several posts in this series all have in common?
A: all of their “stars” eat meat. If you look closely at the featured image, you should be able to see some “victims” being devoured, slowly.
The overwhelming majority of this forest’s carnivorous individuals have neither fur nor feathers.
If all appropriately qualified individuals were to join “The Deep Creek Terrestrial Carnivores Club”, its insect, amphibian and reptile members would dominate it.
Although a relatively small minority within the club, its carnivorous plants would outnumber the remainder of its (primarily, mammalian + avian) fauna membership.
You are looking at one of the Drosera – a genus whose members are commonly known as “sundews”.
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Q: if you walk in Deep Creek Conservation Park’s old-growth stringybark forest, what is the largest carnivorous (as distinct from omnivorous) fauna species that you are highly likely to see at close quarters?
A: Dacelo novaeguineae, pictured above, in said forest at 11 am on 20 June 2023. (photo is ©️ Doug Spencer)
Better known as “the laughing kookaburra”, this usually-sedentary tree-dweller lives and hunts in woodlands and forests.
It is the world’s largest kingfisher, albeit one that generally never – or very rarely – is able to hunt fish. (however, any human silly enough to place a lidless aquarium on an exposed verandah, within range of any kookaburras’ very acute eyesight…)
Most Australian humans’ attitude to this bird is anthropomorphic, sentimental, and unconnected to its actual behaviour/intent.
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Yes, these ‘roos reside a long way east of Australia’s great “treeless” plain, but they are definitely not Eastern greys.
All of the ‘roos in Deep Creek Conservation Park are Western greys.
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