Tag Archives: mycology

Silky Rosegill

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In these continuing dry conditions, there are still relatively few fungi around but it is still worth spending some time searching.

Volvariella bombycina

A week ago, I spotted a large and conspicuous white fungus on a tree-stump at Nostell Priory. On closer examination, I found it to be Volvariella bombycina, which goes by the common name of silky rosegill. This is an uncommon species, so it was pleasing to find it growing in our area.

Volvariella bpmbycina

The scientific name of this species refers to the bag-like volva from which the fungus emerges. The remnats of this can be seen at the base of the stem. The common name refers to the texture of the cap.

An Interesting Start to the Fungus Season

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The very dry conditions created by this summer’s hot weather don’t give much promise for a strong start to the fungus season. However, two of us went out to search several local sites last week in the hope of finding one or two species on trees, for which moisture would not be the problem that it is for those species that grow on the gound.

Pluteus aurantiorugosus

We were searching a pile of rotting timber, on which there is usually something to be found, when we spotted some bright orange caps beneath a covering of dried grass. The mushrooms were growing on a well rotted sycamore stump.

Pluteus aurantiorugosus

There aren’t many mushrooms that are such a bright orange colour and this one took a little while to identify. The splitting of the cap, caused by the dry conditions, almost led us in the wrong direction but the mushroom was found to be Pluteus aurantiorugosus.

Pluteus aurantiorugosus

This species is not common and the CATE databse, operated by the Fungus Conservation Trust, contains no previous records for Yorkshire.

 

Spring Mushrooms

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Note: Please do not eat any mushrooms that you collect from the wild as a result of anything that you read on this page. You should not eat wild-collected fungi unless they are identified for you by an expert.

Spring isn’t the time when most people would think of searching for mushrooms but there are one or two species to be found.

Common Morel (Morchella esculenta)

A real prize for foragers is to find morels. These are amongst the most delicious of all mushrooms but they are not at all common in Great Britain. They are ascomycetes, so they do not have quite the same structure as many of the more familiar mushrooms. They are said, by some, to prefer to grow alongside woodland rides and on woodland edges, on the drip-line of trees. These two were amongst a small group growing on the grassy edge of a wide path through woodland.

St George’s Mushroom (Calocybe gambosa)

Another one to watch for at this time of year is St George’s mushroom, which grows from about the time of St George’s day onwards, until around June. These resemble the edible mushrooms that you can buy in the supermarket (Agaricus bisporus) and the common field mushroom (Agaricus arvensis) but they belong to a different genus, Calocybe. An obvious difference is that they have white gills. Also, they have a distinctive mealy smell, similar to the smell of damp flour. They are popular for eating in some European countries.

St George’s Mushroom (Calocybe gambosa)

The ones that I found were on a reclaimed colliery site, growing beneath trees. The main part of fungi that grow on the ground is an underground network of very thin threads called the mycelium. Many fungi are mycorrhizal, which means that the mycelium has a relationship with the roots of a particular plant. You will find the fungus growing near only those trees or plants with which it can form this relationship. The St George’s mushroms that I found were growing in a ring and this indicates that this fungus is proabably not mycorrhizal. Instead, it is probably saprobic, which means that it feeds on dead organic material in the soil. The mycelium gradually spreads outwards, over the years, as it feeds.

St George’s Mushroom (Calocybe gambosa)

Winter fungi

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We are well into the winter but there are still some interesting fungi to be found.

Common candlesnuff (Xylaria hypoxylon)

Common candlesnuff is easy to spot on decaying treestumps and smaller pieces of dead wood. However, if you want more of a challenge, you can watch out for beechmast candlesnuff, which grows only on the seed cases of beech trees.

Beechmast candlesnuff (Xylaria carpophila)

To find beechmast candlesnuff, you may have to turn over the fallen leaves to get to the beechmast that is in the correct, damp condition for the fungus.

Another common winter fungus is velvet shank.

Velvet shank (Flammulina velutipes)

This fungus has a slimy cap and is often seen sprouting from logs.

A much less common fungus that appears about now is scarlet elfcup.

Scarlet elfcup (Sarcoscypha austriaca)

To find scarlet elfcup, look for mossy logs or smaller pieces of decaying wood on mossy ground.

Scarlet elfcup Sarcoscypha austriaca)

If you are lucky enough to find a red, cup-shaped fungus, you can’t be certain about the id without using a microscope because scarlet elfcup is almost identical to ruby elfcup. One feature used to tell the two apart is the microscopic hair on the underside of the cup. For scarlet elfcup this hair is twisted and tangled but it is straighter for ruby elfcup.

Microscopic hairs on scarlet elfcup

This microscope image shows the hairs on one of the specimens in one of the images above.

Earth Tongues and Other Interesting Fungi

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One of the things that I have learnt in recent months is that a great place to look for interesting fungi in late autumn is amongst the moss in patches of grass which have not been pampered for many years.

Meadow Coral (Clavulinopsis corniculata)

Neglected lawns, the outfields of cricket grounds and the mossy grass amongst the graves in churchyards provide a great habitat for some interesting species. meadow coral is a common species but you have to look closely to find it.

Clavulinopsis species

You should also see the yellow tongues of other Clavulinopsis species. A microscope is needed to identify these positively at the species level.

Common Powdercap (Cystoderma amianthinum)

An interesting capped mushroom is the common powdercap. This species can be very small but it is attractive. It is also host to a rare mushroom called the powdercap strangler. You would be very lucky to find this but you should google it to learn more about it.

Geoglossum fallax

Earth tongues are always of interest to enthusiasts and they can turn up anywhere where there is mossy grass. The commonest is Geoglossum cookeanum, which I found by a main road in the centre of Ackworth, and the one which is next is G fallax, which I found in a north Leeds churchyard.

Geoglossum cookeanum

These two earth tongues have been positively identified by looking at their spores under a microscope.

Caterpillar Club Fungus Cordyceps militaris)

An exciting find for me recently was caterpillar club fungus, which I spotted in another churchyard in north Leeds. This fungus infects the larva of a moth, beetle or other insect which has pupated underground. The yellow arrow indicates the remains of the pupa. This fungus is cultivated in the far east, where it is used in traditional medicines.

Fungi on Heath Common

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Colin Booker and I had a look on Heath common yesterday to see if there were any interesting fungi.

Hygrocybe pratensis (Meadow Waxcap)

As we had hoped, we started finding colourful waxcaps almost immediately.

Hygrocybe psittacina (Parrot Waxcap)

Hygrocybe psittacina (Parrot Waxcap)

Some waxcaps are indistinguishable without the use of a microscope but a few are quite recognisable, such as the parrot waxcap, which comes in a range of colours but has characteristic green colouring in its stem or cap at some stages in its development.

Hygrocybe irrigata (Slimy Waxcap)

 

Slimy waxcaps live up to their name and the caps of heath waxcaps can be quite sticky.

Hygrocybe laeta (Heath Waxcap)

Amongst the grass, we found lots of bright yellow stems of a Clavulinopsis species.

Clavulinopsis species

There are a number of these small yellow fungi and a microscope is needed to be able to name them with confidence.

Cystoderma species

This tiny Cystoderma species is one to keep an eye on because it could be the host for an unusual and rare parasitic species of fungus called Squamanita paradoxa.

Panaeotus semiovatus (Egghead Mottlegill)

The dung left by the ponies which graze the common has provided a habitat for the egghead mottlegill mushrooms. These were one of the few little brown mushrooms that we could identify positively.

Lepista saeva (Field Blewit)

 

I couldn’t resist a second visit to the common today and I found a ring of field bewit – quite a distinctive fungus, with a brown cap and a pale violet stem.

Fungi

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The start to the fungus season has been a good one. Many fungi are emerging in lots of locations.

Blusher (Amanita rubescens)

Colin Booker and I took a walk at Walton Colliery Country Park and started finding many fungi as soon as we set out. Amongst lots of earthballs beneath some birches, we found a number of blushers.

Russulas

There were also dozens of Russulas beneath trees. They are difficult to identify but I think the commonest, shown on the left of this image, was the grass-green Russula (R aeruginea). The yellow one was probably the ochre brittlegill (R ochroleuca). The red one defied my attempts to identify it.

Woolly Milkcap (Lactarius torminosus)

We located a single woolly milkcap and a couple of boletes.

Orange Birch Bolete (Leccinum versipelle)

This single orange birch bolete (Leccinum versipelles) was growing beneath silver birches, as would be expected.

Peppery Bolete (Chalciporus piperatus)

We also found this peppery bolete (Chalciporus piperatus), with it’s quite distinctive shiny cap. It gets its name because of its peppery taste. Having said this, never eat any fungus as a result of any identification that I make on this site, or any other!

Hypomyces chrysospermus

A day or two later, this evening, I was walking at Ackworth when I spotted a vivid yellow in the grass. I found that this was covering what looked like a dehydrated mushroom.

Hypomyces chrysospermus

Having seen a lot of boletes this week, it was interesting to find that the colour was caused by a fungus – Hypomyces chrysospermus – that specialises in feeding on boletes. First they turn white and then a bright yellow colour.

Fungal Finds

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During a walk at Fitzwilliam Country Park, I came across some common puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum). They were just pushing up through the moss and I thought they looked very striking.

Lycoperdon perlatum

There were quite a few Russulas growing beneath silver birches and young oaks. I identified one of these as green Russula (Russula aeruginea).

Russula aeruginea

At Ackworth, I found a clump of fungi which seemed to be a species of Agaricus. For these, I needed the help of the experts at the British Mycological Society. Agaricus bohusii was suggested initially but Geoffrey Kibby, who has published a number of authoritative guides to fungi, suggested that this fungus was a particularly scaly example of Agaricus subperonatus.

Agaricus subperonatus

Agaricus subperonatus isn’t a common species, so this was an interesting find.

 

Wrinkled Fieldcap

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I was walking by the River Calder, near the Hepworth Gallery, when I spotted a mass of fungi on a pile of woodchips.

Wrinkled Fieldcap (Agrocybe rivulosa)

I did my best to identify them using books but again needed the help of the British Mycological Society and I found that they are Agrocybe rivulosa.

Wrinkled Fieldcap (Agrocybe rivulosa)

This species arrived in the UK just over a decade ago and has probably been encouraged to spread by the increasing use of bark and woodchip mulches. It is now common and widespread in Britain.

Wrinkled Fieldcap (Agrocybe rivulosa)

A common name used for this species is wrinkled fieldcap.

Morels at Stanley

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It’s the time of year for morel mushrooms to appear but they can be hard to find. They are significantly less common in the north-east of England than in some southern counties and they are more numerous in some years than others. It was pleasing, therefore, to hear a report of some interesting mushrooms appearing amongst some bark mulch in the garden of a house at Stanley.

Common and Back Morels

When a couple of us investigated, we found two species emerging from amongst the wood chips. We saw several black morels, which we decided were Morchella elata, but we have since been informed that this name is out of date and they should now be called Morchella importuna. One of the morels was different from the others and we decided that this was the true or common morel, M esculenta, but the best information that we have at the moment is that this is of the same species as the others. I understand that the exact number of species of morel has not been agreed by all and the relationships between the different morels are being studied using DNA analysis. Colour can’t be relied upon for identification.

Black Morel

Morels are sought after by mushroom enthusiasts because they are considered to be delicacies. They are picked in many countries and they are often dried and stored to be eaten later. Having said this, there are some very toxic lookalikes and you must be warned against trying to identify any edible fungi by using information from an article such as this. Always get an expert to identify anything that you intend to eat.