Strolling through a Fungi Wonderland

Alien and intriguing

A cluster of mushrooms on a tree stump, Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland. © Bronwen Scott.

Not far from my home on the Atherton Tablelands, a patch of tropical rainforest clings to the western bank of Malan (North Johnstone River) near Tutamonlin, the falls where the river cascades over an ancient lava flow. Once most of the region was covered in rainforest, but settlers cut down the trees for their timber and farmed the cleared land. Today, the forest…