Page 59 - Thola Issue 17

course, better known for another extraordinary species, the desert gymnosperm Welwitschia mirabilis, which he discovered in southern Angola near Moçamedes (now Namibe) in 1859 and which was named after him.
Fruiting bodies of L. corallocephala continued to appear in the same part of the garden for the next seven months until late May 2014, albeit irregularly. They then disappeared for the five months of cooler weather, reappearing in spring, early November 2014 to be precise, but only for a few weeks more before they disappeared as silently
as they came! The accompanying photographs illustrate the life and death of L. corallocephala from the so-called egg pushing through the soil to the mature fruiting body that stood for only a short while before it collapsed, dried out and disintegrated.
Figure 1 shows the grey-white
egg of L. corallocephalus that pushed through the soil like a miniature mole- hill. Some reached a diameter of 65 mm and a height of about 23 mm. After
a few days, as many as four small openings appeared in its outer wall (figs 2A-C). In some cases, the characteristic coral-coloured structures of the
Even before the branches of the fruiting body had unfolded, blobs of a foul-smelling, viscous, brown liquid called gleba containing the spores were seen on the. Particularly on the first day, the odour emanating from this liquid could be smelt several metres away.
developing head can be seen through these openings (fig. 2C).
The wall of the egg split open, usually at night, and within about two hours, the orange head of the fruiting body emerged (fig. 3A & B) and its thick, whitish stem (or receptaculum)
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FIGURE 1: Egg of L. corallocephala starting to protrude through the soil.
FIGURE 2A-C: Eggs of L. corallocephala with a single hole (2A), three holes (2B) and four holes (3C). The orange structures visible inside 2C are the developing branches of the enclosed fruiting body.
FIGURE 3A & B: Emerging fruiting body.
thola: VOLUME 17. 2014/15
Fig. 3A Fig. 2C Fig. 2B Fig. 2A Fig. 1
Fig. 3B