Uploaded on behalf of the collector, Kym Brennan

Small, fragile, 10cm tall. In leaf mould in heavy shade, lowland spring-fed monsoon forest, on drier part towards margin.

This is a normal gilled mushroom that has a very thin cap flesh, which splits radially (between the gills). Further drying lifts and twists the gill-segments into the flower shape in the image. The type specimen from Vanauatu had the same form on all fruitbodies, but the author was unsure whether this was an oddity, or the normal condition. The find of this Australian specimen shows that it is the norm, but it would be great to find young fruitbodies to understand exactly of the final form develops – at what point in development does it depart from a mushroom shape?

The species is Hausknechtia floriformis, a monotypic genus only described in 2020, with a single species described (by Anton Hausknecht) in 2003, previously only known from Vanuatu. I have been on the lookout for it, great to know it occurs in Australia too.

A link to the genus description: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11557-020-01606-3

A link to the original species description: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjwh767wJD0AhWQXisKHV56AnkQFnoECAgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zobodat.at%2Fpdf%2FOestZPilz_12_0031-0040.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2rG4jlSDVwwBUmwAkpRYGM

Strong scent somewhere between the odor of a truffle and a Suillus pungens. Difficult to dry as it seems to have a very high oil content. Found growing near a rotten log and a series of tree roots. The only tree around was Nothofagus pumilo (Lenga tree).

Spores - elongated 10-12um in length with 1-3 oil droplets inside

One observation of this species on Mushroom observer http://mushroomobserver.org/observer/show_observation/231190