High-Altitude Magic: Meet Africa’s Psilocybe maluti
News from Planet Fungi: a new magic mushroom 🍄🟫, big-screen adventures at the Woodford Folk Festival and IMAX cinemas worldwide, Stephen’s tips for photographing lichens plus festive Mush-Merch.
Watch on YouTube - High-Altitude Magic: Meet Africa’s Psilocybe maluti
While exploring a high-altitude meadow in South Africa with mycologist Professor Peter Mortimer, we came across an unassuming mushroom with a fascinating story: Psilocybe maluti, a newly described species of magic mushroom.
It is named after the Maluti Mountains in the highlands of Lesotho, Africa.
Photographed in 2021 by citizen scientist Daniella Mulder, this mushroom was identified through DNA analysis and given a scientific name by Breyten van der Merwe at Stellenbosch University.
But its significance goes beyond science—locally known as koae-ea-lekhoaba, it plays a role in the traditional healing practices of the Basotho people of Lesotho, offering a glimpse into Africa's rich but under-documented fungal heritage.
This discovery underscores the vital collaboration between mycologists, local people’s knowledge and citizen scientists in uncovering Africa's incredible fungal biodiversity. Who knows what other treasures await? 🌿
Read the scientific paper:
Watch our video: https://youtu.be/Y_BcGKrW5So
The Mushroom Whisperers at Woodford Folk Festival 🎶🍄
Step into the mysterious realm of mushrooms at the Woodford Folk Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival with The Mushroom Whisperers. This unforgettable event pairs live music by the composers of the sensual score of Planet Fungi’s documentary Follow the Rain with Stephen Axford and Catherine Marciniak’s exquisite time-lapse fungi photography.
Be mesmerized by the sounds of Romano (piano and violin ), Carla (flute and vocals), Yamarji didgeridoo master Mark Atkins, and multi-instrumentalist Jess Ciampa, as they create a live soundtrack that echoes the rhythms and beauty of fungi.
If you're looking for an unforgettable experience, you absolutely cannot miss the Woodford Folk Festival in sunny Queensland.
With over 2,000 electrifying acts and a vibrant crowd of 40,000, it's a celebration of music, art, and culture that’s simply magical.
Why not make 2025 the year you dive into this fabulous adventure and add Mushroom Whisperers to your Festival must-see list? 🌞🌈
Woodford Showtimes:
🗓️ Fri, Dec 27: 11:30 PM - 12:30 AM
🗓️ Sun, Dec 29: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
🗓️ Mon, Dec 30: 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Meet our February 2025 fungus - Calistoma rodwayi
Festive Mush-Merch: Perfect Gifts for Fungi Fans
The Miraculous Mushroom 2025 Wall Calendar
Australia's diminutive Forest Pretty Mouth is only a few centimetres wide, yet a wonder to behind. A tangle of sticky gelatinous threads forms a stalk that supports the mushroom's nobby head. After it emerges from the forest duff, the cap peels away to reveal a pale spore sac with an Autumn colour stoma shaped like a star. As Forest Pretty Mouth matures, the stoma opens up and releases streams of white powdery spores.
Celebrate the exquisite beauty and science of fungi every day with Stephen Axford's breathtaking photography.
Each month unveils a new image from the enchanting fungal kingdom. Printed sustainably with a design that eliminates the use of plastics, this calendar is a thoughtful gift for nature lovers and fungi enthusiasts.
Order now: https://a.co/d/iVlMG19
I Am a Fungi Hunter T-Shirts
Gear up for FUNGI HUNTING with our new T-shirts, designed for fungi fans big and small.
Check out these and other fungi-themed gift ideas on our mush-merch page ... https://www.planetfungi.movie/mushmerch
ACMI MELBOURNE PRESENTS FUNGI: WEB OF LIFE 28 Nov - 14 Feb
Discover a secret world of fungi with Björk as your guide on a mesmerising 3D adventure spanning the ancient Tarkine Rainforest to China’s Yunnan province.
Follow biologist and writer Merlin Sheldrake on this brilliant round-the-world journey, revealing the hidden life of fungi through dazzling imagery – both under the microscope and in the forest. Discover the vital role these essential organisms play in the web of life as their mysteries unfold before your eyes.
Book your tickets: https://acmi.me/fr
This documentary showcases fungi time-lapses by Stephen Axford and Wim van Egmond in magnificent 3D, and Catherine Marciniak of Planet Fungi is a co-writer of the script.
Want to see FUNGI: WEB OF LIFE near you?
It is currently screening worldwide. Find your closest IMAX or DOME cinema here https://www.fungimovie.com/theaters
You can also contact your local IMAX cinema and ask for it by name—or request an on-demand screening here.
Curator's note
Fitting in beautifully with Björk's own fascinations with fungi, as explored in her 2022 album Fossora, Fungi: Web of Life offers a glimpse into a world just beneath our feet. Stephen Axford’s time-lapse photography elevates the natural world to a realm of almost supernatural beauty, capturing these organisms in ways rarely seen.
With Björk’s narration and Merlin Sheldrake’s insights, this film illuminates the intricate connectivity of fungal networks and their profound, often overlooked relationship with our own lives.
– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)
Photographing Lichens: fungi photography tips with Stephen Axford
Tasmania in spring isn’t our usual stomping ground—after all, fungi season on Australia’s southern isle peaks in the cooler autumn months of April and May.
But this year, we made a special trip to screen Follow the Rain as a big thank-you to the amazing Tassie fungi enthusiasts who’ve supported our work. And since we were there, we couldn’t resist a few days in the forest, hoping for some springtime surprises.
What we found was nothing short of magical—an incredible variety of lichens in their sporing phase, with intricate structures just begging to be photographed.
Lichens are extraordinary organisms formed by a symbiotic partnership between one or more fungi (the mycobionts) and a photosynthetic partner, algae and/or cyanobacteria (the photobiont). Their intricate structures and vibrant colours make them a captivating subject for both science and art.
In September, we found a wide variety of lichens on Tasmania's west coast. In areas sheltered from extreme sunlight, they stayed moist and protected.
Photographing lichens can be tricky. They’re incredibly delicate, and their three-dimensional structures, with branches overlapping and going in every direction, make focus especially challenging.
I used focus-bracketing to create these portraits of lichen, a technique in which multiple images are taken at different focus points and combined in post-production with focus-stacking software to create one sharp image. I use Helicon Focus, but other photographers we know use Photoshop and Zerene.
I often took up to 50 images for a single stack. At first glance, it can be hard to tell what’s going on—it’s only after processing that the intricate details come to life.
My Top Tips are
Choose the Right Subject:
Not all lichens are photogenic. Some can look like a tangled mess with no clear structure. I look for specimens that are more discreet, with boundaries that define their shape. Simpler structures make it easier to capture their beauty and detail.Find a Good Background:
As with mushroom photography, a dark, uncluttered background works best to make the subject stand out. This isn’t always easy in the wild, but moving around to find the right angle can make all the difference.Avoid the Wind:
Many lichens move even with the slightest breeze, so I try to find sheltered spots where they’ll stay still. This is especially important for focus bracketing—movement between shots can ruin the final image.Bioflourescence:
Many lichens exhibit biofluorescence under ultraviolet light, making it exciting to photograph them with a UV torch. I use the WAYTOCOOL Convoy C8+ 365nm UV LED Flashlight.
A Fascinating Discovery
While photographing one of these Tasmanian lichens, I noticed something unusual. It had small, raisin-like nodules that were a different colour—a greyish lilac—compared to the pale green of the main structure.
I did some research and discovered that this was the result of cyanobacteria being present.
Cyanobacteria are capable of fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere, producing essential nutrients for the lichen. This happens in nutrient-poor environments, where nitrogen is scarce.
It was fascinating to see this adaptation up close—those little nodules were like nature’s survival strategy in action.
Follow us for more photography tips and discoveries from Planet Fungi! 🌿
FOLLOW THE RAIN on screens in Australia, New Zealand
If you live in Australia or New Zealand you can now watch FOLLOW THE RAIN on Netflix ANZ 🎉 Whether you’re lounging on the couch, commuting, or just looking for an excuse to binge some fungi goodness—press play on any device you can get your hands on. Watch it, rewatch it, give it a double thumbs-up👍👍and please spread the word.🍄🟫📺✨🙏
To stay up to date on international screening, streaming, and broadcast opportunities, follow us https://www.planetfungi.movie/follow-us
If you are an international streamer or broadcaster interested in screening Follow the Rain, please get in touch with Natalie Lawley at Escapade Media.
SUPPORT FUNGAL RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION
If you would like to support more research into, and conservation of, this fascinating, important, but understudied area of science, there are three organisations that we partner with, who work tirelessly in these areas.
AUSTRALIA - Big Scrub Conservancy Foundation
INTERNATIONAL - Fungi Foundation
Every little bit helps.
Anthracophyllum archeri, the Orange Fan, and gum nuts at Dip Falls, Tasmania - spring 2024