Monthly Archives: August 2009

Thank you to Anne (aka annkelliott@Flickr) of Alberta for sharing today's photograph with us (original image on Flickr via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Much appreciated!

One of the reasons I like fungi is because of their common names: who doesn't love righteous red waxy cap, or black jelly roll, or insidious gomphidius? The fungus in today's photograph? Yellow fan (pretty good), yellow fairy fan (better), or yellow earth tongue (perfect).

Spathularia flavida is a ascomycete, or sac fungus. Like other ecologically successful spore-producing organisms, it has a broad distribution that spans continents, with occurrences in Britain, India, Germany, Turkey and montane & northern parts of North America (though Michael Kuo implies it is restricted to North America -- perhaps modern phylogenetic studies have revealed multiple species where there was previously thought to have been one?). Assuming one species (so I can use the singular), it is a species of coniferous forests; a close look at the photograph will reveal some conifer needles.

More photographs of Spathularia flavida are available via the Fungi of Saskatchewan and a Germany gallery of fungus photographs.

There are also three new lenses to talk about today from Canon: The F2.8L, 100 mm macro IS USM lens is the first to use Canon's new "hybrid IS" system. This system compensates for both angle and shift camera shake, thanks to its new acceleration sensor. The lens ships in late September for $1049. The new F3.5-5.6, 18 - 135 IS EF-S lens has a nice 28.8 - 216 mm range when attached to an APS-C camera. It too ships in late September, for $499. Finally, there's the F3.5-5.6, 15 - 85 mm IS USM EF-S lens, which hopefully performs better than the 17-85 that's gathering dust on my bookshelf. It will be out in late October for $799.

See undersea worlds that stand to be lost—and that six Southeast Asian governments are trying to save with their new Coral Triangle initiative to protect coastal reefs. Video.