Story behind the art of Fatima Zagonel

Curious Allies: Mutualism in Fungi, Parasites, and Carnivores

The Fifth New York Botanical Garden Triennial

Macrofungi from Brazil's Paraná Pine Forests

Agaricus meijeri, Higrocybe magnifica, Entoloma sp., Entoloma pruinatocutis, Geastrum velutinum, Calocybe rubra, Higrocybe parvula, Volvariella cf murinella, Ramaria geesterani, Hydnodon thelephorus, Entoloma siparianum, Xerocomus basius, Agaricus stijve

In the year 2000, researcher André August Remi de Meijer invited three of my colleagues and me to illustrate a book about macrofungi of the Araucaria Forest, one of the most threatened ecosystems in Brazil. The forest originally covered an area of 200,000 square kilometers (approximately 77,220 square miles) but over the last two centuries, economic activities and urbanization have reduced the forest to about three percent. The forest has rare and endemic species. Araucaria angustifolia (Paraná pine) is also the symbol of the state of Paraná where I live.

The book describes, with illustrations, only about 10 percent of the known macrofungi of Paraná pine forests. Macrofungi have spore-bearing fruit bodies such as mushrooms or brackets. They are vital in forests because they promote wood and litter decay, recycle nutrients, and form symbiotic relationships with trees. De Meijer describes many species for the first time, and they bear his name.

For the book, I illustrated 38 species. The book was published in 2008, with a print run of only 2,000 copies.

What a great adventure to illustrate the fungi! De Meijer collected them and brought them from the countryside by bus in Styrofoam boxes. Since fungi deteriorate very quickly, we had to run to the bus station as soon as he told us he was coming so we wouldn't lose any of the characteristics of the shape, texture, and color of the specimens. I opened my box only when I arrived at my drawing board to illustrate the fungi immediately. Often the unpleasant smell would spread through the house.

This experience came to my mind when I saw call for entries for Curious Allies. I always thought these illustrations deserved to be known by a larger audience. So, I decided to illustrate the most attractive fungi again in a composition that also showed the Paraná pine. I executed my artwork on Fabriano Classico paper with the fungi in watercolor and the tree in graphite.

The Paraná pine is a majestic tree that, even though threatened with extinction, still covers vast areas where I live. After building our house about 40 years ago, the first tree we planted was an Araucaria. It delights our eyes every morning when we open the door to the garden. When my mother, a native of a region without the presence of this tree, saw a Paraná pine for the first time, with its branches turned to the sky, she said it seemed as though the tree had its arms raised in prayer.

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Read more about this artist's work: 19th Annual