Entoloma hochstetteri
with kauri snail shell

Everybody gets excited when they find one of these beautiful blue toadstools. It is being used here as the "button mushroom" to transport you through the web site. (Japan has a similar fungus).

Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter visited New Zealand in 1859. He was geologist on the ship Novarra, a scientific expedition sent out by the Austrian government.  Julius von Haast and Charles Heaphy VC explored New Zealand geology with him. All three have their names attached to geographical features. Hochstetter published two books about New Zealand and his name is attached to our prettiest toadstool.

The stereoscopic picture was taken in the Waitakeri Ranges in a  Kauri tree grove. The big, brown leaves have fallen from a Kauri tree and the black shell is from a Kauri snail. Unfortunately this shell was broken and the toadstool is neither as symmetrical nor as blue as it can be.