FUNGI IN NEW ZEALAND

Chronicle (Levin), 11 April 1947, Page 4

FUNGI IN NEW ZEALAND

Dr. C Gm .Speak« Tto FSora -Club At a recent meeti'ng- of the "Levin Native Flora \Club„ members were pleased to welcome as their guest speaker Dr. G. 'Cone; whose -sublect -on this occasion was fungi. The speaker ..pxefaced .her rleeture jy stating that there .ar.e jprobably several .thousand .species of f ungus scrcurrfjjig ip New ^Zealand, a numner well fn ad.vaince »o(f ithe more than - 2000 native seed-bbarmg .plants jand ferns .described in iQheeseman's Manual of New :Zea■iand Flora. (Comparatively litsle has been done so far to classify (the fungi .o,f New Zealand.

.All fungi are -reproduced by means of .spores. This 'tihey 'have -.in common with .-many other lov^ly plants, such as ferns, mosses, 'liverworts .and .algae, *but in fheir mode if 'nutrition fungi .are qiiite diSv iuincit fr.om the ■ ierns, ;etc,, Which ^.cnfain jgreen -cdloiUBing ma'tter. The presence of the green p'igmeht m such plants .enables them, with •The sun's .energy, to utilise the morganic salts from the -sqiil -a/nd the carbon-diojdide from the-,air to make- complex .organic compounds. Fundamentally, all .animals depend ■on plants for their food- F.ungi having no green pigment, and as a result being unable to manufac-t-ure their own foods, must 'break up the complex organic materials from other organic matter, either ,plant °r animal, to •obtain nour.ishment. Thus fungi deri-ve their food either from living -.organisms and are parasrtes, or from -dead organic matter -and are saprohytes. •The latter -group are useful .as they help to reduce dead substanees to a form in which they can be utillised ;as food by grebn plants, thereilove rernoving -waste. Fungi .and bacfeeria, :the latter being a degenerate form of fungi, .are neoessary for soil fer.tility, -which .is in dii-ect ratio to the numher of -living -organisms .in the sdil. .'Some iplants need the ser.viqes of their own special -bacteria to fhrive or gitow .at .all, a well-known instance of this being lucerne, and the necessity ifor innoculating the soil .prior ' to so.wing to obtain satisfadtory resuits. IFungi are .olassified according to their method of -producing their spores. Some, the "incomplete" fungi, are iknown only as cob•webby ihycelium in whidh the ■spores are produced. Mould on ■ cheese is one of these. A .more •ad.vanced group .of fungi hear their spores, nsually -eight :at .a timq, In •a >sac .called an ;ascus. These make quite big fruit and are represented by disk and cup fungi. The larg.est group df fungi 'devblop .'spores on a single ceH 'called -a basidium, usually pea-rshaped, with four .points .at the -tip and on each point '% , spqrg. . Belonging , to tljis , .group •are all -the Agarics— mushrooms ■and others 'having gills. The pol.yrparaeeae 'have the basidia '-inside Titrtle tubes, and all the big braoket fungi .belong to this group. The 'Thelephoraceae are papery brackets with -a -smooth. undersurface. •Clavarias are -brightly coloured club-shaped 'fungi. Another group with a -velvety-ismoofli surface includes the edible "few's ear" found .on .dead or dying -kohekohe and mahoe trunks. In 'Gasterqmy•cetes the .basidia .are enclosed. .Pu'ffnballs and -earth-stars ;belong ■to this group. A -bait, which later opens, ,at .first .completely encloses .the spore-.bearing parts. Then .there .are .the bird's nest fungi — a -cup with ".eggs"' inside, each "egg" '.being ,a ;packe't of spores. Next are the slime fungi, with fruit mat .more than -a-quarter of an ,inch in height. They make their fruit in the dark, under the rotting bark of trees -or * under (dead "leaves. .-An .early stage of this fungus .is just a.slimy jelly, somefmes brilliantl.y .coloured, .and this can .move and is .fond of the dark. A "speoimem placed .on a saucer was cited as having moved. on to' the tunderside df the -saucer. The group Phytomycetes "includes the common pdtato blight. Plant diseases such as vine mildew and •rusts .and -smUts on grain plants are all fungal. ;Gn the whole the spore-bearing •plants are more widely rdistributed chan •seed-bearing plants, and fungi, having -such very iminure spores, are generally 'world-^wide -fi 'distribution. At the ■conclusion of Dr. iGone's 'Vecture 'various questions .were* asked by lliste'ners, demonstrating the ikeen .atterntion .with which the -lecture was -received. Som-e dried specimenis ;and some -illus-: trafeed, tbooks, seyeral from the: Country Librar.y 'Service, were; cxamined with interest by those; present.