One of the highlights of my Canada trip this year was the 25km hike to the top of the Sleeping Giant and back. It was something I had been looking forward to doing since my first visit when the opportunity hadn't really arisen. It was definitely hard work in places but well worth the effort and there will be more shots from along the route and from the top in future posts.
However I also used the hike as another opportunity to photograph more of the many varieties of fungi along the way. Here are a few of them. I was amazed by how may different fungi there were and I really like the first of today's specimens that resembles a natural sponge.
Some of you might notice that one of these plants is not actually a fungi and I almost saved it for a post of its own because it is a really interesting plant. It is of course the plant in the fourth image, it is Monotropa uniflora which is known as Indian Pipe or ghost plant. It is a herbaceous plant that grows very quickly when conditions are right. It is unusual because it is white and that is because it does not contain chlorophyll and so it is unable to produce energy from sunlight in the way that green plants do. Instead it is a parasitic plant that draws its energy from micorrhizal fungi which means ultimately it gets energy from the trees. It will often be found near beech trees and because it does not rely on sunlight it can actually grow in very dark environments.
It has a use in herbal medicine as a "nervine" for act on or affect the nerves; quieting nervous excitement. Which is ironic because I was quite excited to find this along the way.
