Bitter Oyster

Fungi > Bioluminescent Mushrooms

The Bitter Oyster (Panellus stipticus, historically Panus stipticus), celebrated in historical folklore as the creator of ethereal woodland ‘foxfire’, is a small, tough, kidney-shaped saprophytic wood-decay mushroom belonging to the family Mycenaceae....

Sacred Lotus

Plants > Aquatic Plants

The Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), also known as the Indian lotus or water bean, is an iconic, aquatic perennial herb belonging to the monotypic family Nelumbonaceae, indigenous to the tropical and warm-temperate wetlands of Asia and northern Australia. Revered...

Strangler Fig

Plants > Figs & Moraceae

The Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea), also known as the golden fig, is an imposing, architecturally extraordinary hemiepiphytic tree belonging to the mulberry family Moraceae, native to southern Florida, the Bahamas, and the Greater Antilles. Famous across tropical...

Eastern Newt

Amphibians > Salamanders & Newts

The Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), famously represented in its juvenile land-dwelling phase as the vivid ‘red eft’, is a widespread, ecologically fascinating salamander belonging to the family Salamandridae, native to the temperate forests and...

Cane Toad

Amphibians > Frogs & Toads

The Cane Toad (Rhinella marina, historically Bufo marinus), also known as the giant marine toad, is an immense, heavily built terrestrial anuran belonging to the true toad family Bufonidae. Native to the tropical grasslands, floodplains, and river valleys of Central...