Stephen Axford has a new species of magic mushroom named after him, and the joke is - he doesn’t take mushrooms himself, because they make him sick.

The Booyong resident has made a name for himself photographing fungi. As a fun guy into fungi, his hobby (and now job), has catapulted him into international stardom.

Steven received the surprising news this week that a new type of fungus found in China has been named in honour of him.

The luminous fungus is another new species that Stephen Axford saw in Mawlynnong on a Balipara Foundation field trip in north east India in 2018.

The fungus Panaolus Axfordii is a hallucinogenic mushroom, named after Steven by the Kunming Institute of Botany in Yunnan Province, China.

“It’s an interesting, but appropriate honour to have a fungus named after me,” he said.

”The institute wanted to honour me as I’ve been to Yunnan four times now, and worked with the botany institute to help them document the finding of the fungus.

“The fungus grows on the lawns in the of the institute and shows itself in July – that’s its season for fruiting.”

Steven said most fungi have a season and the mushroom we see is actually the fruiting body of the fungus, like an apple on a tree.

“The rest of it grows underground or in rotten wood,” he said.

“Fungi are one of the three most important kingdoms of life, along with plants and animals, and there are more species of fungi than plants.

“We think there may be four million species of fungi on this planet, but names are only given to about 2000 of them.”

Panus lecomtei.

Photography

When Steven first started photographing fungi, he didn’t know much about them.

Now retired and 68 years old, his hobby pays for him to travel the world, photographing fungi.

“I used to work in the computer industry, but when I retired, I started photographing nature,” he said. “I love walking in forests and so I started photographing mushrooms too.

“You really need to get down on the ground on their level to photo them, a bit like children.             

“I’ve always been interested in science, but never had training in it and it fascinated me more as the years went on.

“Before I retired, people said to me ‘why not take up professional photography?’ but I didn’t want to photograph weddings and thought I’ll stick to what I know and love.

Marasmius sect. Marasmius subsect. Marasmius.

“One day, I put some photos on the internet and they became more popular. Then a website called This is Colossal asked if they could publish them in their blog for free.

“I hadn’t realised how much respect that website had – then I started being contacted by British newspapers and European nature magazines like National Geographic and Roots. They saw my pictures and offered me money for them.

“Then the BBC contacted me about photos of a luminous fungi I put up and wanted to know more about them, so they sent a producer out and I had 1.15 minutes of time lapse photography on Planet Earth. Since then, it’s been a steady stream of work on eight nature documentaries, including on Hostile Planet, with David Attenborough doing voiceovers.”

Phillipsia subpurpurea.

Travel

Then Steven began being contacted by international educational institutions, to come to their respective countries and visit remote places where new species of fungus were being discovered.

“The Kunming Institute of Botany contacted me one day and said ‘would you like to come to Yunnan and photograph fungus for us?’,” Steven said.

“Now, I go most years and they cover all costs. I don’t get paid, but what an opportunity – I get to travel to places that aren’t marked on Google.”

When Steven travels, he travels with his film-maker partner, Catherine Marciniak, who also works for the local ABC.

Steven's partner and film-maker partner, Catherine Marciniak.

“They take us to new locations where they know lots of fungi grow, but don’t know what they are,” Steven said. “I’ve been to Yunnan four times, Myanmar, north east India twice and Nepal – and I’m going to Nepal and Mexico next year at the invite of NGOS.”

He and Catherine have also found a new species of luminous fungi in India and a co-authored a paper on that too.

Steven said his photographs are sought by the institutions to be used in their educational resources.

“A good quality photo means a lot and is a great way of communicating,” he said. “A scientific article on fungus is much more interesting and well read once you put in a beautiful photo.

“In Nepal, they are reproducing my pictures on A1 posters and using them to educate kids in schools and get them involved in what they find in forests - and hopefully save the forest – you never know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Sky blue mushroom. Entoloma Hochstetteri, Fox Glacier, New Zealand.

Local fungus

Steven’s favourite fungus is a special blue one that he found close to home in the Northern Rivers.

“I’m not the first to discover it, but the first document it,” he said.

“It’s very blue looks and looks like blue plastic on the ground. It’s been found in mulch in Lismore and the Booyong Big Scrub. It’s not a common fungus – it likes a lot of rain.

“You mostly see fungi after rain, but sometimes after fire too. Most fungi need water and grow under the ground where it stays moist until the fruiting body comes up into the air.

Aseroe rubra (starfish fungi).

Whimsical

Perhaps surprisingly, Steven didn’t really take up photography until 2000.

“I took it up on a whim and bought a digital camera,” he said. “I worked up from there and now I have a good set up.

“I have one camera I use to photograph fungi with a macro lens – and I’m now sponsored by Sony.

“I don’t make a lot of money, but my equipment and travel costs are covered. When you are retired, what more could you want?

“I’m going to keep doing it – I have no choice now.”

Interestingly, Steven said he has about 10,000 photographs of different mushrooms, but not Panaolus Axfordii, the one named after him.

For more information about Steven and his photography, visit https://steveaxford.smugmug.com/