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March fungi

Printed From: Reptiles and Amphibians of the UK
Category: General
Forum Name: Associated Fauna and Flora
Forum Description: A forum for plants, invertebrates and other animals associated with herpetofauna
URL: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5283
Printed Date: 19 Mar 2024 at 6:33am
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Topic: March fungi
Posted By: chubsta
Subject: March fungi
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2019 at 7:36pm
Nothing special here (I presume) but the size was impressive - the first specimen was just under 2 feet wide! The whole log/stump was erupting, very nice to see...







Replies:
Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2019 at 10:51pm
Well admittedly it's not a rarity, but i'd still consider your find special. Encountering a species in abundance is usually an impressive spectacle and fungi are so fleeting.

These are edible and sometimes cultivated for sale, Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus). You can buy a kit and grow them on an old book - quite good fun though the results were a bit disappointing when i tried it.

I don't think it's possible to be 100% sure of species from photos, but your fungi are relatively pale in colour and i suspect if you examined underneath, some of the stems would be fused together at the base. A pretty good match for Branching Oyster Pleurotus cornucopiae.


Great find and nice to see!


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2019 at 3:03pm
As always, thanks for the id - makes it far more interesting!

Here is todays beauty from some woodland near Hythe...




Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2019 at 9:32am
Ah, the rubbery brown texture and the host species (Elder) denote - very common species - Ear or Jelly Ear Fungus Auricularia auricula-judae. Until relatively recently, it was known as Jew's Ear (the Latin name somehow managed to cheat the censor's guillotine). Nothing to do with Jews and so-called because as apochryphal legend has it, Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an Elder. You wonder how given the soft, spindly and very brittle nature of the wood in question! Does the species even occur in the Middle East i wonder? Maybe he travelled to Europe to commit assisted suicide...


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2019 at 6:55pm
Looking very ragged (this is how i found them), but despite appearances, this is my best fungus find of 2019 (so far)..
Although arriving at an id might frequently entail navigating a complex route via expensive and hard-to-get specialist books, chemical reagents and microscopic study of spore 'ornamentation', other times a simple thing like a distinctive smell or the species of tree it's on can mean a motorway shortcut to it.

Having narrowed these down to Entoloma by gill colour and other general characteristics, i got to species by the relatively unusual fruiting time (spring), plus the lack of bad smell, the tufted habit and the fact there was an orchard with trees the species associates with nearby.

Had some agreement from my Fungus Group that these are Shield Pinkgill Entoloma clypeatum

Uncommon   .


                                 
                         



       
                            
   






Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2019 at 8:00pm
Good work Sherlock!

-------------
Suz


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2019 at 8:09pm
See, it just looks like a toadstool to me...

Was that in Tortworth?


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 9:00am
Suzy. Think Inspector Clouseau or Police Chief Wiggum is probably more accurate. Less 'sleuth' more 'strewth!'

No, not been to Tortworth Arboretum yet Chubsta. Still trying to fit in a visit there. Don't know if it was the same when you knew it, but these days it's got very 'quirky' opening times. According to Google, closed all day every day except Sundays - when it's open 24 hours!                                                                                                 


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 9:53am
Originally posted by Liz Heard Liz Heard wrote:


No, not been to Tortworth Arboretum yet Chubsta. Still trying to fit in a visit there. Don't know if it was the same when you knew it, but these days it's got very 'quirky' opening times. According to Google, closed all day every day except Sundays - when it's open 24 hours!                                                                                                 

It didn't have 'opening times' when I lived there, I used to go through there at all times to get to the Silver Bream lake at the end - never gave a thought as to whether anyone owned it all, but it was a big prison training centre in those days so I guess we kids just thought we had access - just wandering off in the country seemed easier then.


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2019 at 9:40am
Here's one to look out for Chubsta.

These are St George's Mushrooms (Calocybe gambosa) and they are now cropping up left, right and centre hereabouts. The common name comes from their fruiting time (within a couple of weeks either side of April 23rd, St George's Day).
Sometimes found on bare earth in woods, but mostly occurring in grassland, parks and along roadsides. They are medium-sized mushrooms, frequently densely packed together and trooping in lines or in rings. I've a feeling i read they show a particular liking for alkaline soils (which you're on i believe?)

Key id characters:
habitat - grassy places
time of year (little else about in spring)
strong, mealy smell
uniformly cream to white in colour throughout
compared to other, similarly-proportioned mushrooms, St George's have thick flesh but a conspicuously shallow gill depth









Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2019 at 8:54pm
we have plenty of Fairy Rings on The Green in Hythe so will keep an eye open - are they the most common to be in rings?


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 28 Apr 2019 at 10:44am
Alas no. Quite a few species occur in rings, although some differentiate between ones in woodland and those in grass.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007152882800138?via%3Dihub" rel="nofollow - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007152882800138?via%3Dihub


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 02 May 2019 at 5:47pm
Thought i'd just throw this one into the hat. A locally common UK species - but one that nobody ever sees!
This Summer Truffle (Tuber aestivum) was passed to our Fungus Group by a lady who's dog dug it up in her garden. There are previous instances of them turning up in the seemingly unlikely setting of a housing estate                                                           .
First time i've seen one 'in the flesh' myself.

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