SOMETIMES something exotic bursts from the earth in our own gardens that make us realise that we’re only recent custodians of the land.

We cut our lawns and trim our hedges, but underneath that thin layer of manicured grass lies thousands of years of evolution. Much of it has been buried forever, but occasionally something manages to come to the surface as if to say – we’re still here, and we’ll still be here long after you!

That’s what happened to reader Seany Collins this week. He was doing a final autumn tidy of his garden near Holy Child school in Andersonstown when he noticed four of the most incredibly shaped objects that have perhaps ever been created by mother nature.

They seemed to be a type of mushroom, but they were shaped like an intricate flower. ‘Petals’ peeled back around the outside to reveal a raised ‘eye’ in the centre – and the eye itself even had a pupil – a black centre.
In fact, it looked more like a mini-alien from outer space than any mushroom. Seamy worked around them, picking up fallen leaves and old hedge clippings. But then a twig fell on to one of the mushrooms and – puff! – it burst into a cloud of black smoke.

“It just collapsed in on itself and exploded, with spores shooting up about three foot from its ‘eye’,” said Seanie. “To think I was looking right at them a few seconds before.

“I’ve a wee dog in the garden and grandchildren – and was wondering if they could be dangerous if they exploded?”

Well, the good news is that there’s no danger – except that if one explodes beside you, you’ll be carrying several thousand baby mushrooms in your clothes. And it’s not poisonous, but just too tough for us to eat.
This is one of our most incredible fungi which goes by an equally incredible name – the earthstar.
In fact, many experts believe it respresents the height of fungal evolution. And to think it can be growing in your own garden in Belfast.

Of all Ireland’s 5,500 fungi, this has got to be the most ingenuous. Its whole design is based on ‘splash liberation’, where it offers a container packed with spores up to the heavens, waiting for a single splash of rain to burst it. Often the ‘petals’ close in good weather, only to open again, exposing the ‘pupil’, when rain clouds gather.

But of course a falling twig or leaf will have the same effect – and the earthstar won’t complain because the spores will be spread just as effectively.

What we often forget about mushrooms is that the part we see is just there to reproduce – hidden from sight are masses of nearly invisible fungal threads. Only when the temperatures and humidity are perfect do they send up their ‘fruit’ to the earth’s surface send out spores. And those perfect conditions are right now, in autumn.
So forget about daffodils and roses – Dúlra would rather have an amazing wild earthstar in his garden. It's worth checking – how many of us have them and we don't even realise it?