Fungi's Explosive Stunt
Peziza violacea
In this blog, we share how to create an explosive puff from a cup fungus, tips for fungi-themed festive season gifts, and more North America screenings of Follow the Rain.
The Explosive Stunt of the Violet Fairy Cup
We were exploring a deciduous, misty forest on the Danube in Slovakia when we stumbled upon this stunning violet cup fungus (Peziza violacea). We knew these little fungal buckets had a trick up their sleeve and became obsessed with documenting this genius in action.
Using a gas stove lighter to heat the air a few centimetres above the cup’s surface, we introduced a sudden change to the humidity and air pressure.
There was a slight delay, and then…
Puff!
…a visible cloud of spores erupted, sometimes in a powerful jet, sometimes in a languid dance.
It’s one of the coolest mycology tricks you can witness in the wild.
So, how does this tiny fungus pull off such a dramatic stunt?
It All Comes Down to Pressure
The inner surface of the cup is lined with millions of microscopic, pressurised sacs called asci, which are jam-packed with spores. They sit there ready and waiting, like tiny, loaded springs. A sudden environmental cue—like a gust of wind, a puff of your breath, a drop in humidity, or, in our case, the localised heat from a flame changing the air pressure—is all it takes to trigger the release.
A Coordinated Air Strike
Individually ejected spores would barely move a millimetre, but in these fungi, the spores coordinate their movement. One ascus firing triggers its neighbours in a chain-like reaction across the cup.
This synchronisation achieves two things:
A "Self-Generated Wind": The mass of millions of spores acts as a collective unit, creating its own jet stream of air that you can sometimes even hear as a faint "hiss."
Punching Through the Stagnant Air: On any surface, there is a "boundary layer"—a layer of still air. The self-made air current created by the spores gives them the push they need to punch through the static layer and get caught in higher, faster air currents for long-distance travel.
Not all cup fungi do this—some use raindrops to splash their spores away—but for the pressure-sensitive Peziza genus, this is a spectacular adaptation to ensure their survival and spread.
Check out the video to see this in action.
(P.S. While amazing to watch, it's best to avoid inhaling the released spores!)
A bird’s nest fungus (Cyathus striatus) uses its old cups as a cradle for new sporing bodies.
🎁Fungi-Inspired Gifts for the Mycelially-Minded 🍄
If you're hunting for the perfect gift for the fungi lover in your life (or for yourself), we’ve gathered our most magical, mycelial favourites into one place. Each celebrates the extraordinary beauty, mystery and interconnectedness of the fungal kingdom, crafted with love and wonder from the Planet Fungi team.
Psilocybe serbica—spotted in a scruffy little patch on the fringe of a Salzburg forest in Austria, proving (yet again) that fungi love the places we overlook.
This gem was found thanks to our fungi friend and guide, @rizvanovic.almir
Do check out his beautiful photography, and stay tuned… in our next newsletter, we’ll take you into Almir’s fungi world, along with a few other rising stars we’ve met on our latest European fungi adventures.
📘 Planet Fungi: A Photographer’s Foray
Fresh off the press, our book is a deep dive into the astonishing world of fungi—Stephen’s iconic photography, Catherine’s stories of fungal adventures, and insights from leading mycologist Dr Tom May. It’s the perfect centrepiece for a coffee table, a nature-lover’s library, or anyone who delights in the strange and spectacular.
“This is simply the ultimate in fungal coffee table books … I find it impossible to leaf idly through the pages of this book and not feel overwhelmed by the sheer diversity and beauty that our planet has to offer to those who seek it out.”
— Alick Henrici, Field Mycology (British Mycological Society)
“Planet Fungi is one of those clever books that packs a wealth of ecological detail (and good storytelling) … You start casually pursuing photos of weird mushrooms and lichen, and two hours later you’re learning about parasitic fungi that turn wasps into zombies.”
— Justine E. Hausheer, Cool Green Science, The Nature Conservancy (US)
“What they create … is opening people’s eyes to the wonder of fungi. To their delicate beauty, their dazzling variety, and the beguiling weirdness of their lives.”
— Ross Bilton, The Australian Weekend Magazine
📅 2026 Miraculous Mushrooms Calendar
Twelve months of mood-lifting mushrooms! Our 2026 calendar features a curated collection of Stephen’s favourites with fun fungi facts. A beautiful way to stay organised while keeping a window into the fungal world on your wall all year long.
This is a zero-plastic calendar, and the producers invest in reforestation.
🎨 Catherine’s Symbiotism Paintings
Inspired by the deep relationships between fungi, plants, insects and the unseen life below the soil, the Symbiotism series brings vibrant forest worlds to life. Each canvas is a miniature ecosystem—mosses, lichens, worms, beetles, mycelial threads—woven together in rich, earthy colour.
👕 T-Shirts, Mouse Mats, Cards & More
Let your wardrobe and workspace go full fungi. Mushmerch like T-shirts, tote bags, mouse mats, and stationery features original Planet Fungi photography and art.
Your support helps us fund our fungi advocacy activity. 🍄💙
Mushlove from Catherine & Stephen
FOLLOW THE RAIN is streaming on:
Australia and New Zealand - NETFLIX
Germany - RTL
Thailand - TRUEVISIONS
UPCOMING SCREENINGS IN NORTH AMERICA
Follow the Rain is travelling in North America, with recent packed houses in San Francisco, Toronto and Idaho. We’d love for you to experience it at one of these hosted screenings:
7 DECEMBER - SAN FRANCISCO - FUNGUS FAIR
Encore screening hosted by the Mycological Society of San Francisco
El Camino High School
15 DECEMBER - MONTRÉAL
Screening hosted by Cercle des mycologues de Montréal
Montreal Botanical Garden on Sunday - 2.00 PM
Hosted by The Minnesota Mycological Society
The Parkway - 7:30 pm
Screening announced soon for Oregon
When you’re teaching macro fungi photography in the heart of Vienna… you bring the forest to the people. 🍄 Here’s Stephen demonstrating a focus-bracketed shot as part of Planet Fungi’s contribution to the mind-expanding fungal experience of PilzFestSpiele 2025 - a biennial fungi festival in Austria.
BRING THE MAGIC OF FUNGI INTO THE CLASSROOM
Our award-winning fungi documentary Follow the Rain—along with an exciting new Study Guide for Schools, is now available for teachers and parents who want to bring the wonder of nature into young minds
Outreach campaign and study guide generously financed by
Michelle Marie Bailey.
Designed for Years 3–8 and matched to the Australian curriculum, our teacher pack connects science, the arts and media studies with hands-on learning. Kids can explore how fungi are classified, how they interact with plants and animals, and how photography and film can be powerful tools for science.
Whether you're a teacher looking for rich classroom content, or a parent or grandparent eager to get your local school to use this truly unique educational resource, Follow the Rain is the perfect way to inspire a lifelong fascination with the natural world.
For more information contact ATOM shop@atom.org.au
OTHER EVENTS
GERMANY - 25 January – 22 February, 2026
Planet Fungi’s time-lapse video art experience ‘Ephemeral Kingdom’ is supporting the solo exhibition of Tanja Major | The Mykobütten Code at the Municipal Gallery Filderstadt. ‘Epemeral Kingdom’ explores the dance of fungi’s fragile beauty, depicting birth, brilliance, and decay in the fungal world.
AUSTRALIA - MURWILLUMBAH - 14th December
Two performances of ‘The Mushroom Whisperers’ screenings.
3.00 pm & 7.00 pm - Tickets here
Carla Thackrah and Romano Crivici (world class musicians, I have to add) provided the score the Follow The Rain. Now they bring us their flute, voice, piano and violin to improvise live to an additional 50 minutes of mesmerising fungi film footage.
Book early, it’s a small venue that will sell out quickly.
All profits go to Tweed Landcare.
SUPPORT FUNGAL RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION
If you would like to support more research into, and conservation of, this fascinating, important, but understudied area of science, there are three organisations that we partner with, who work tirelessly in these areas.
Big Scrub Conservancy Foundation
INTERNATIONAL
Every little bit helps.
Collybia nuda decorates the floor of a pine forest near Salzburg, Vienna.