Entoloma hochstetteri mushroom at Lake Mahinapua, New Zealand Jan 18, 2018

Entoloma hochstetteri mushroom at Lake Mahinapua, New Zealand

Leave it to weird, wild, wonderful New Zealand to be home to a blue mushroom. Fungus enthusiasts can also find Entoloma hochstetteri in parts of India and Brazil, but it’s bountiful enough on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, that it is part of the artwork on the latest iteration of the $50 note. It appears alongside the kōkako, a bird whose blue wattles inspired the Māori name for this mushroom: werewere-kōkako.

© Thysje Arthur/Offset

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