Exploring the World of Indian Mushrooms and Fungi

Ganoderma curtisii/lingzhi

Welcome to the world of mushrooms and fungi, the world's most underrated and ignored organisms!  Fungi play an important role in recycling organic waste, in most cases they thrive on leaves, dead trunks of trees and in some cases even on living trees. Some fungi, however, can cause great harm to living trees as they literally eat up a whole tree from root to stem causing the infected tree to crash to the earth in a storm revealing a completely hollow trunk!

The Ganoderma curtissi, Ganoderma Lingzhi, or the Golden Reishi mushroom is important in medicine. Its exudates contain mycotoxins, antimicrobials, insecticides, and antiviral, and anti-cancer agents. Some of the exudates might contain high levels of a heparin-like substance which if ingested might cause the person to die of haemorrhage since it inhibits coagulation of blood! Golden Reishi Mushrooms, also known as Ganoderma mushrooms can often cluster in large colonies around the trunk of a tree.

An interesting phenomenon noticed in Ganoderma mushrooms is the process of guttation. Guttation refers to the process whereby plants and mushrooms exude droplets of exudates and liquid matter from their bodies which can be seen on the mushroom's surface. These droplets could be clear in colour, or even dark in colour. In the photograph, I am sharing below, the exudate can be seen as dark droplets scattered all over the surface.

An example of guttation in mushrooms

Phallus Stinkhorns

Fruiting Phallus Stinkhorn

Stinkhorns are among the most complex of all fungi. They have a complex life cycle starting with oval-shaped white eggs popping out of the ground. These eggs grow in time cracking upon maturity to release phallus-shaped fruiting bodies which emit a typical stink that is overwhelming. The mushrooms in these photographs were feeding on the stump of the trunk of a dead tree.

Egg of the Phallus Stinkhorn

Wineglass Shaped Mushroom

Wine-glass-shaped yellow mushrooms

I was able to photograph these strange wine-glass-shaped mushrooms in the park today and was fascinated by their shape. At first, I ignored them, but then on my second jogging run realised that they were mushrooms. I have been trying to identify the species of this mushroom variety but have failed to do so! A stranger variety of mushrooms was spotted by me looking like fake corals, or even somewhat like a Cauliflower with larger fans.

Coral-shaped mushrooms


Coprinus comatus

And of course, you have the normal mushrooms that we see so often. These mushrooms can be spotted growing on the forest floor, often close to the trunk of a tree. These mushrooms might be poisonous and thus inedible.

Macro Photography - A World That Defies Imagination!

Welcome to the world of Fungi, the most underrated and ignored organisms in the world! Fungi play an important role in recycling waste and in this case, recycling wood. However, in this case, the fungi you see are feeding on the tree they are growing on and in a few years, they will have eaten into the core of the tree forcing it to collapse. These fungi grow up from the tree's roots or even the trunk's very centre. They grow stems, roots or tubes that burrow deep into the tree's roots or the trunk's very centre. The fungus I have photographed might be the big Polyporous Bracket Fungus. In these images, the fungus is a fruiting fungus and these fungi are going through the process of guttation which means that they are exuding water and metabolites produced by fungal cells. These exudates contain mycotoxins, antimicrobials, insecticides, bioherbicides, antiviral and anti-cancer agents. Some of these exudates might contain heparin-like chemicals which if ingested might prevent the coagulation of blood causing the person to die of bleeding! The fungus photographed in this post could be Ganoderma curtisii or the Golden Reishi mostly found in the southeastern United States.

If you look at the photograph above, you will notice the exudates on top of the conk. One of these has a yellowish colour while the other one is light in colour.

Dear reader, welcome to a world rarely seen before! Macro photography opens up a a whole new world never seen before by the naked eye! It highlights the beauty and grandeur of minuscule organisms and nature's creations that have never been seen in real life. Some of the photographs in this blog post are not for the squeamish.

Macro photography opens up a whole new world that looks alien, weird and out of this world. It is challenging to get close to the objects that draw your attention. People use tripods and stuff. though that hampers one's style! A steady hand and a kit lens might suffice for most people, so it does for me. I am amazed by the options open to macro photography and honestly, most of these photographs have been taken handheld, resulting in most cases in my pants at the knees getting muddied by the mud.

Like fungi, Dragonflies have an important role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem. They eat up all those nymphs or small insects that swarm wetlands or even urban areas that have trees. Of course, the challenge for me was to track the flying dragonfly and focus on it. I was incidentally using a 70-300 mm usm Canon lens, not a good option for macro photography, since it is used for wildlife photography.

The two moths pictured below were shot with an 18-55 mm EFS Canon lens, more suited for Macro photography. The moths photographed below are the Beet Webworm Moths.

The creature photographed below is called the Pale Green Assassin bug. I wonder who its next target might be!

Of course, butterflies can be beautiful and so, to help you feast your eyes on the splendid colours of nature, I am sharing a couple of photographs of butterflies.

Mushrooms are interesting to photograph and they are mostly seen during the monsoon season. The standalone mushrooms grow into full-grown varieties that can be spotted at the foot of trees.

Spiders make for interesting objects to capture in the macro mode. The spider I have photographed below is one that I have seen at my house. Please don't be surprised by the clarity, I took these snaps from the plate glass of the window of my bedroom. This was a tiny spider no bigger than the head of a matchstick. I have seen larger spiders than this one.

Celebrating the 78th Independence Day At Palam Vihar, Gurgaon

The Palam Vihar resident's welfare association celebrated the 78th Independence Day with greater enthusiasm and fervour. Shri Jagvir Singh and Brigadier Sukhbir (retd) took an active role in organizing the event. A drawing painting competition was held for children on the theme of Independence Day, and there was a flag-hoisting ceremony and various speeches by the invited dignitaries.

Children, from different schools run by NGOs presented a colourful cultural programme that exuded a patriotic fervor. Without saying more, I am sharing a few photographs taken by me on the occasion.