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NaturalistNotes Big fat boletes at Rowville, Victoria In 1987webuiltourhouseinanareaofnatural vex, expanding to broadly convex or almost bushlandintheMelbournesuburbofRowville, plane, sometimes with the centre a little de- where three Eucalyptus spp. (Long-leaved Box pressed (Fig. 3). The colour isyellowish brown E. goniocalyx, Silver-leaved Stringybark E. ce- or brown, sometimes with a greenish or olive phalocarpa and Peppermint Gum E. radiata) tinge. The surface is dry, felty or suede-like, were already well-grown (Fig. 1). It was not sometimes flecked with brown or greenish until 2008 that fruit-bodies of a large bolete brownfibrillosescales,andcracksorsplitswith Phlebopus marginatus began to appear on the age (Figs. 4 and 5). The thick (up to 50 mm) groundunderoneoftheLong-leaved Boxtrees fleshofthepileusisadingywhitishcolour,dis- (Fig.2).Thisfungushasgrowninthesamearea colouringwhenexposed totheair(Fig. 5). The most years since. I didn’t see it in 2012, but it pored underside is soft, yellow or orange-yel- reappearedintheautumnof2013,whenitalso low, becoming brownish as the spores mature; mm grewneartheSilver-leavedStringybark. the tubes are up to 30 long. The stem is The fruit-bodies usually emerge during the verystout, swollen andbulbous, dingyyellow- autumn and winter months, but sometimes brown to olive brown, and darker toward the during spring as well. The cap is initially con- base (Grgurinovic 1997). The stem is usually Fig. 1.OurhomeinRowville,with Long-leavedBox Fig. 2. Fruit-body ofPhlebophus marginatus at the (centrefront)andSilver-leavedStringybark(left). baseoftheLong-leavedBox. Vol 130 (3)2013 145 NaturalistNotes Fig.3.Fruit-bodywithdepressedcentre. Fig.4.Cracksintopoffruit-body. Fig.5.Splitfruit-bodyshowingdiscolouredflesh. central, but sometimes eccentric (Fig. 6). The Phlebopus marginatus is found in Austral- sporeprintisyellowishbrown(Fuhrer2005). ia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka Thefruit-bodieslastforseveralweeks,staying (Grgurinovic 1997). It is probably Australia’s ingoodconditionforawhilebeforecrackingor largestterrestrial fungus,withsome specimens mm becoming deeplypitted (Fig. 7) and eventually exceeding 600 in diameter - in fact fruit- either collapsing into a liquid mess (Fig. 8) or bodiesupto 1 metreacrosshavebeenreported. shrivellingintoblacklumps (Fig. 9) orforming (Themostrecentspecimentoappearinmygar- ablack mess. A type offly, Tapeigastersp., lays denmeasuredamere300x260 mm).Aweight itseggsonthefruit-bodies,whichprovidefood of29kgwasrecordedforaspecimeninwestern forthemaggotswhen theyhatch(Fig. 10). 146 TheVictorianNaturalist NaturalistNotes Fig.6. Fruit-bodywith eccentricstem. Vol 130 (3) 2013 147 NaturalistNotes Fig. 8. Aging fruit-bodies collapsing into a liquid mess. Fig.7.Deeplypittedfruit-body. Victoria(Fuhrer2005).InAustraliathisfungus growsontheground,eithersolitaryorinsmall groups, neareucalypts (Grgurinovic 1997). Acknowledgements Many thanks to Virgil Hubregtse for assitance with identifying the fungus, supplying technical details andmakinghelpfulsuggestionsregarding thestruc- tureofthispaper. References Fuhrer,BA(2005)AfieldguidetoAustralianfungi(Bloom- ingsBooks:Melbourne) Grgurinovic,CA(1997)LargerfungiofSouthAustralia(The BotanicGardensofAdelaideandStateHerbariumandThe Floraand FaunaofSouthAustraliaHandbooksCommit- tee:Adelaide) Fig.9.Oldfruit-bodyshrivelledintoablacklump. AnneMorton 10RupicolaCourt Rowville,Victoria3178 Fig. 10.Decayingfruit-bodycuttorevealmaggots. 148 TheVictorianNaturalist