Today’s Tasmanian fungi of the day is Russula persanguinea. This is a funny one. I see it all the time, to the point that I regard it as quite common but when it came to selecting photos for this blog post I found I had relatively few photos of it! All the following photos are from the Tarkine region – Corinna, Philosopher Falls etc.

Russula persanguinea in the forest near Corinna.

The shot above is my favourite view of this striking mushroom. Taken near Corinna in the forest near Middleton Creek. I experimented with a few different apertures and slightly different compositions but I feel this one captured the brilliant white stipe, the gills and the red cap well.

Russula persanguinea. This is a close up and the colours are stunning. Taken at Corinna.

The shot above is one of the first I took of this particular fungi. It was a particularly eye catching specimen, the red and white standing out dramatically against the green mosses.

Russula persanguinea, in the field. I took a wider shot of this one beside the track at Philosopher Falls.

Russula persanguinea is a fair sized mushroom compared to many of the small delicate ones found in Tasmania. The cap is up to 5cm across and the stipe (stalk) is up to 6cm high and 1cm thick.