4 unique and rare fungi and flora species you can see on Kangaroo Island

4 unique and rare fungi and flora species you can see on Kangaroo Island



If you’re plan­ning a trip to KI’s nation­al parks, here are some unique and rare species to look out for.


Some very rare and unique plants and mush­rooms has been spot­ted on west­ern Kan­ga­roo Island, some of which have not been observed in almost a century.

Some of these unique species have appeared after last summer’s bush­fires, which have had a dev­as­tat­ing effect on much of the nat­ur­al habi­tat on the west­ern end of the island – but the good news is for many, this dev­as­ta­tion was only temporary.

Some of these par­tic­u­lar species are fire colonis­ers which means they will thrive with fire and are at risk of extinc­tion with­out it.

Some species that are rarely found can become more com­mon after fires. Oth­ers are threat­ened by for­ag­ing activ­i­ties from fer­al pigs.

Here’s four types of fun­gi and flo­ra you may spot if you’re head­ing out to a nation­al park on the island.

1. Rare bolete mushrooms

Rare bolete mush­rooms have been spot­ted on the island. The fun­gus is cur­rent­ly being assessed by the State Herbar­i­um of South Aus­tralia to see if it is a rare type of bolete mush­room (Aus­trobo­le­tus lacuno­sus), in which case the sight­ing would be a new record for the island.

4 unique and rare fungi and flora species you can see on Kangaroo Island

2. False tobac­co(Apalochlamys spectabilis)

False tobac­co, also known as Apalochlamys spectabilis, only appears for one sea­son after fire to flower and pro­duce seed before it dies off again.

The seed will then lie dor­mant for a num­ber of years, until the next fire when it is giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty to grow and set seed again.

4 unique and rare fungi and flora species you can see on Kangaroo Island

3. Kan­ga­roo Island Riv­er daisy(Achnopho­ra tateii)

The Kan­ga­roo Island riv­er daisy is a small plant which is unique to the island and has very spe­cif­ic habi­tat require­ments, pre­fer­ring the edges of shal­low, low-flow stream banks and marshy grounds.

4 unique and rare fungi and flora species you can see on Kangaroo Island

4. Kan­ga­roo Island woodruff (Aspe­ru­la tet­ra­phyl­la)

The Kan­ga­roo Island woodruff, Aspe­ru­la tet­ra­phyl­la, is a plant that is eas­i­ly over­looked and con­fined to stream banks and wet depressions.

In the past 100 years there are only a few records that doc­u­ment a hand­ful of loca­tions of where this plant can be found. It’s only been seen by a few dozen peo­ple in the space of a century.

This species is cur­rent­ly threat­ened by fer­al pig foraging.

4 unique and rare fungi and flora species you can see on Kangaroo Island

How you can help these rare and unique plant species

If you’re out and about in parks, take a pho­to or jot down a note of the dif­fer­ent plant species you spot, as well as their loca­tion, and send in these details to Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice, which can help us to iden­ti­fy rare plants and fire colonisers.

Like what you just read? Read our blog on5 of the old­est plants species. If you’re ven­tur­ing out in the Ade­laide Hills, here’s5 fun­gi you can spot in the region.


This con­tent was pro­duced in part­ner­ship with  Good Living