Scarlet bracket fungus, Pycnoporus coccineus, is probably one of the most readily seen fungi in Jirdarup.
It appears on dead wood and is visible from the walking tracks in the Kensington Bushland and in George Street Reserve throughout the wet season.
According to the University of Newcastle, it was used by Aboriginal people as bush medicine, sucked on by teething babies and chewed by adults suffering from infections or ulceration in the mouth. However, the Living Atlas of Australia says it was not eaten by Noongar people and gives name for the scarlet bracket fungus as Dtaal-yil mirda-yoornt (Dtaal-yil= small fungus mirda-yoornt=orange). This source gives Dtaalyil as the generic Noongar term for fungus whereas John Horsfall’s Noongar Bush Medicine and Bush Tucker Facebook site gives two generic names for fungi, Noomar and Woorda. There is clearly much to learn.
