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Cyttaria gunnii - Strawberry Fungi (burl makers)

Cyttaria gunnii are round, edible, ascomycete pore fungi, found growing from the trunks and branches of Nothofagus menziesii or Silver beech (Māori: Tawhai).

They are perennial, and produce increasingly large colonies each year, which eventually form big woody galls,or "burls" in the trunks or branches.

Beech burls are prized by woodcarvers, although many people don't realise how they come to be there.

Garden Gully Croesus Track, Paparoa Range, West Coast

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Uploaded on April 5, 2009
Taken on January 21, 2009