The Spectacular Rustgill, Gymnopilus junonius, begins as a small cluster of golden buttons. As they expand the rim breaks free of the stem, forming gilled mushrooms. Each mushroom can grow to 400mm across, although the ones seen here grew to about 150mm. The gills start as an orange colour and darken with age, including some rusty hues. The mushrooms lasted for about 2months, before decaying into dark stains on the ground.

The damage seen on the tops of some Rustgills was caused by Magpies, who pecked at them.

Rustgills are generally associated with decaying wood. In this case they appeared on open ground, which may have had some woodchips buried through it. They were seen to the north of Manna Park’s Hostel.

Click on any photo to download a higher resolution image (T.Hastings 28/4/2010 to 5/5/2010)