The large ones are usually found a few metres up the trunk of a eucalypt.

As they decay they fade to white, but fresh specimens are fawn above and an attractive soft yellow below.

The photo shows a much smaller bracket fungus. It is one of the Crepidotus group.

While Crepidotus is the proper scientific name, it is often shortened to crep when used as a common name.

Thus we have variable crep, yellow crep, and others. At least one species is soft pink beneath.

The one in the photo does not seem to have a common name. It grows on damp logs and its light brown brackets are attractively gilled underneath. These soft caps were mostly 30-40mm across, but larger specimens are sometimes found.

The furry white bases of the caps are distinctive on fresh specimens.

The photo was taken near Smythesdale two weeks ago.

Damp logs are habitat for many fungi species, of varying shape, size and colour.

Anyone interested in finding more fungi should check damp logs, where many species - most of them small - may be found.

Some prefer open positions, while others prefer more sheltered places.

Most fungi have their usual season, with many species found for only a few weeks at almost the same time every year, dependent on rainfall.

The Crepidotus species are normally found in June.

For fungi enthusiasts, the season is disappointingly short, although earlier and later species help to continue the interest.

Springtime will bring its own special - but reduced - range of fungi.

An exhibition of native plants that flower at the time of the shortest day will be held this weekend at the Robert Clark Centre at Ballarat's Botanic Gardens.

There will be a surprising range of native flowers on display, including correas, grevilleas, hakeas and more.

All have been grown locally by members of the Ballarat group of the Australian Plants Society.

The bell-like flowers of the correas are always a special feature at this time of the year, and they have the advantage of being attractive to eastern spinebills and other nectar-feeding birds.

Most of them are frost hardy, and dry tolerant as well.

Entry to the show costs $5, with free tea and coffee provided. There are plants for sale.

Note the restricted times on both Saturday and Sunday: 10.30am-3.30am. For more details, phone 0418 303 405.

I have noted that there are plenty of fungi around this autumn, including this lovely bunch of toadstools at the North Gardens in Ballarat. They later bloomed into a beautiful frilly mass.

S.G., via email.

These are known officially as spectacular rustgills.

With gold caps and stout gold stems, they are indeed eye-catching when in a fresh, dense overlapping clump, and they have rust-coloured spores, hence the other part of their name.

This fungus grows on stumps or at the bases of trees. Most caps are between six and 15cm when mature.

The caps flatten as they age. You may be able to find them in the same spot next year.

To botanists, they are Gymnopilus junonius. The thick yellow flesh is regarded as bitter tasting and inedible.