Fungal Rainbow

The interminable cold weather has given me the opportunity to reflect and consider my blog posts over the past 10 years. When I started in January 2003, I had no idea that I was on a voyage of discovery that would lead to new species being discovered for Ireland, discoveries new to science, to television and radio appearances, writing opportunities, participation in Ireland's Bioblitz, requests to use images and a grant from the Heritage Council, but most importantly of all: to an excellent network of contacts, friends and experts. In the frequent dull and wet days, this network has been the impetus to keep on researching and hope for the brighter days ahead. Thank you all for that.

Another matter that frequently occurs to me is the contemporary nature of my blogs: I show what I can photograph at any particular moment in time. This has the advantage that it shows what can be found on any particular day, but has the disadvantage that continuity is lost: I might show the larva of a species in May, but the adult in September, so although I am aware of the continuity, my blog doesn't show it. I have therefore decided to occasionally add extra blog posts that include older images (as well as any relevant new ones) in order to provide an overview or summary that would otherwise have been missed.

My previous post showed the bright turquoise fungus Chlorociboria aeruginascens and I instantly remembered all the colours that can be found in fungi. This post uses a few of my older images to celebrate that fungal rainbow.

Firstly, a pair in black and white:

Helvella corium is a rarely-found ascomycete that is usually encountered on sandy soil. I found it at the edge of a track in coniferous forestry in 2004. This was the first time it had been found in Ireland. As the first finder, I was allowed to give it its official Irish name: I chose An Cupán Dubh - the Black Cup.

Helvella corium

I found it in more or less the same location for perhaps 3 years, but not since then: it must have some very strict habitat requirements.

The Porcelain Fungus is probably my favourite mushroom. It is very well named: the flesh is translucently pearlescent and the overall construction is very fine indeed:

Porcelain Mushroom - Oudemansiella mucida

It is only found on dead Beech and always on the higher parts of dead branches.

And now the rainbow:

Amanita muscaria - the Fly Agaric - is the archetypal fairy toadstool. It is found in association with Birch, and has strong hallucinogenic properties:

Amanita muscaria - Fly Agaric

The common name comes from its old use for killing flies by crumbling some of the flesh into a saucer of milk.

Waxcaps are a family of mushrooms with very strong colours. Hygrocybe reidii is my latest discovery, with a very strong smell of honey :

Hygrocybe reidii - Honey Waxcap

Russula ochroleuca is a very common fungus. I find it in all woodland environments, and often in large numbers:

Russula ochroleuca

Amanita citrina is another mushroom that I rarely encounter in its pure form:

Amanita citrina - False Death Cap

There is a pure white variant which smells of raw potato and I find that much more frequently.

Hygrocybe psittacina - the Parrot Waxcap - starts off life with a very bright green cap, but this colour fades over a couple of days as the pigment is spread over a larger area as the mushroom grows and matures:

Hygrocybe psittacina

Entoloma serrulatum is the bluest mushroom I have found:

Entoloma serrulatum

The cap is a paler blue, but the gill edges are an intense blue that has to be seen to be believed. Entolomas are a huge group that can be very difficult to identify to species: the monograph (with addenda!) runs to some 1200+ pages.

Wood Blewit - Lepista nuda - is one of the edible fungi. Care must be taken, however, to avoid confusion with purple Cortinarius species which are poisonous.

Lepista nuda - Wood Blewit

Smell is a good indicator, with the Blewit having a pleasant, perfumed odour; but spores are the best check: Blewit spores are pink, whereas the Cortinarius spores are always brown.

The Amethyst Deceiver is also edible (although I find it tedious to taste):

Amethyst Deceiver - Laccaria amethystina

Young, fresh specimens are bright purple, but older ones go white or brown, which can lead to confusion.

And, finally, a couple that don't fit into the rainbow:

The Pink Waxcap - Hygrocybe calyptriformis:

Hygrocybe calyptriformis

And Clavaria fumosa, looking very much like a worm colony: 

Clavaria fumosa

The last two can be found on old lawns which have not been treated with fertiliser or 'improved' in other ways.

Did anyone notice what I did with the rainbow?

Ards revisited

My previous trip to Ards a couple of weeks ago was slightly disappointing, so I went back again on Sunday. This was a much better trip, with lots of interesting specimens, and it has taken me the better part of two days to get all the identifications as close as I can, since quite a few of the species are new to me.

In no particular order:

Gymnopilus penetrans is a decomposer of coniferous wood: the central specimen is shown still attached to its substrate:

Gymnoplius penetrans on coniferous debris

New to my species list.

Waxcaps are very colourful fungi that are mostly found in grassland, although one or two favour the edges of paths or verges. This is Hygrocybe conica - the Blackening Waxcap. It starts off bright red, fades to yellow and then turns black as it matures:

Blackening Waxcap in the early stages

Late edit: 'Gibster' has just pointed out that the black dots on the Laurel leaves at the bottom of the picture are Trochila laurocerasi. So that's another addition to my species list.

Hygrocybe pratensis is one of the larger Waxcaps. I like the fine detail on its gills:

Gills of Hygrocybe pratensis

Another new species of Waxcap for me: Hygrocybe reidii - the Honey Waxcap - smells strongly of honey, especially at the base of the stipe (stem).

Hygrocybe reidii - Honey Waxcap

New to my species list.

This small but distinctive species glories in the longest name of any in my species list - Inocybe geophylla var. lilacina: 

Inocybe geophylla var. lilacina

Russulas are another colourful family. They are characterised by bright caps, white chalky stipe and very brittle gills and flesh. Russula ochroleuca is one of the most common species, found under broadleaf trees and conifers:

Russula ochroleuca

This one took a little more time to identify, but I just got my copy of Geoffrey Kibby's excellent new monograph on Russulas and it keys out to Russula sardonia:

Russula sardonia

There are many features used to identify fungi. In addition to appearance and smell, we also sometimes use taste, especially when it comes to Lactarius species, where we often taste the milk (more of this later). I wanted to confirm the identification of the above Russula sardonia and broke of a couple of pieces of the gills and tasted them. The description says that they taste hot and acrid...."sometimes alarmingly so". I can confirm that the gills are the hottest taste I have ever encountered: my tongue is still tingling 24 hours later. Taste with caution.

I hasten to point out that the tasting of fungi has to be done with some guidance: tasting the gills of e.g. Death Cap could have fatal consequences.

New to my species list.

Sulphur Tuft must be one of the most common species: I find clusters of it on every trip I make at this time of year:

Sulphur Tuft

The archetypal mushroom as depicted in countless fairy tales is Amanita muscaria - Fly Agaric:

Fly Agaric

Fly Agaric gets its name from the old practice of putting some in a saucer of milk to attract and kill flies. It has a serious narcotic effect.

The Cantharellus family has some of the most delicious mushrooms, including the Chanterelle - one of my favourites. This is the closely-related Cantharellus infundibuliformis:

Cantharellus infundibuliformis - Girolle

And the Horn of Plenty is another delicious member of the same family:

Horn of Plenty

I usually smell those before I see them.

Earlier on, I mentioned tasting the milk of Lactarius species. they get their name from the 'milk' which exudes from the gills when the flesh is cut. The colour and taste of the milk is an important factor in making an identification. The appearance of this one, allied with the milk, which slowly develops a bitter and slightly hot taste leads me to Lactarius chrysorrheus, which is an Oak associate:

Lactarius chrysorrheus

New to my species list.

I rarely give specific names to Mycenas: I'm still waiting for a monograph to be published. but I'm happy that this one is Mycena galericulata. It grows on dead wood and stumps, and has a very springy stipe which is difficult to break:

Mycena galericulata with flash

This second shot is in natural light:

Mycena galericulata in natural light

Turkey Tails are another decomposer of dead wood. They can be seen in tiers along dead branches and stumps. Colour can be very variable:

Turkey Tails on dead branch

Finally for today, a shot of Candle Snuff fungus - Xylaria hypoxylon:

Candle Snuff fungus

Not a bad page, I think.

Ards forest

I always visit Ards forest at least once during the fungal season, and Sunday promised a few dry hours, so off I went. Despite the recent rain, there didn't appear to be a great many specimens, but I did find a decent range of singletons.

Tricholomopsis rutilans is one of the few fungi that were traditionally allocated a common name: Plums and Custard.

Tricholomopsis rutilans - Plums and Custard

I have often mused about the reason for some species having common names, whilst the vast majority do not. All species have a double-barrelled 'formal name', but I suppose that common names were allocated to species that were:

• a) easily recognisable
• b) important for one reason or another (I'm thinking edibility or toxins or medicines here)

I should point out that there was an exercise undertaken a few years ago to allocate a common name to hundreds of fungi. The idea behind this is that the formal binominal is usually Latin or Greek in origin, and is therefore seen to be 'unfriendly' or 'daunting' or 'offputting'.  Having learned all the formal names, I won't be re-learning the new ones.

The Russula family of mushrooms is readily identified by the brightly-coloured cap and chalk-white stipe (stem). Many species of this family (and others!) require chemical analysis or microscopic analysis or odour or 'percentage peelability of the cap' for confirmation of the identity, so I'll preface any identifications as tentative for now. Spore prints are under preparation. (I'm currently waiting for Geoff Kibby's new monograph on Russulas to arrive in the post, so I'll update identifications as required).

Russula ochroleuca is very common in Ards, being found under conifers and broad-leaf trees: 

Russula ochroleuca

This specimen was also found under conifers:

The blackish centre and very peelable cap are leading me towards Russula fragilis:

Russula cf. fragilis

This specimen has buff/yellow gills, and was again found under a conifer:

Russula cf. erythropus

The gills are joined at their base by cross-veins and the cap peeled perhaps 10%, so this is pointing towards Russula erythropus.

Mycenas are very delicate little fungi, often found growing in moss:

Mycena in Dicranum majus moss

It's always good to see Chanterelles. Sadly, I only found one:

Chanterelle - Cantharellus cibarius

The underside of Chanterelles has thick, forked ridges, rather than gills:

Chanterelle underside

I also found a couple of Hedgehog mushrooms:

Hedgehog mushroom

The underside of Hedgehog has spines, just one of the many techniques that fungi use to increase the spore-producing area:

Underside of Hedgehog mushroom, showing spines

Last year, I tentatively identified these as Cortinarius semisanguineus:

Cortinarius cf. semisanguineus

Nobody has disagreed so far.....

I found a single specimen of Phellodon melaleucus in its usual spot:

Phellodon melaleucus

It's a very rare mushroom smelling strongly of fenugreek when dry.

I found a few specimens of Wood Sorrel in a very dark and damp part of the forest that had been infected with the rather scarce Mycosphaerella depazeiformis.

Mycosphaerella depazeiformis on Wood Sorrel

I looked up the records for Mycosphaerella depazeiformis and found that there are only 6 previous records in BI. Three are from Ireland, the most recent in 1936 in Cork. It's very noticeable, so I think it's actually rather scarce, rather than just under-recorded.

More (non-fungal) items from Ards in the next post.

First fungal foray

I paid a visit to Drumboe wood, which is usually quite good for fungi. (If you're looking for good fungi, then choose the oldest deciduous woodand you can find, the older the better: some fungi are successional, and it can take centuries for those down the dependency chain to grace a woodland with their presence.)

One of the most elegant fungi is the Porcelain Fungus - Oudemansiella mucida. The cap is so thin it transmits light through the pearly flesh. Pictures hardly do them justice:

These only grow on dead Beech branches, and usually a metre or so above ground level. They make a wonderful undershot with light behind them:


I find these Cortinarius sp. in the same place every year (this is a common experience with fungi, since their mycelium is static, and they often pop up the same spot year after year.) No id, yet (Corts are a notoriously difficult group). The cap is extremely viscid:


The Common Earthball - Scleroderma citrinum - is easier to identify:


One of the most common Russulas is Russula ochroleuca: I find it on virtually every foray. It's a broadleaf associate.

A record shot of the Blusher - Amanita rubescens. There were quite a few of these, all knocked over by hungry slugs or snails. This fungus is poisonous, as are most of the Amanitas, and some are deadly.

Talking about deadly fungi, you might have seen in the press that a well known writer was poisoned (and how!.....serious - perhaps permanent - kidney damage) by the deadly fungus Cortinarius speciosus. He is apparently a regular mushroom hunter and was on holiday in the north of Scotland when the incident happened. I found the best pictures on the web to be:

http://www.apasseggionelbosco.it/forum/uploads/post-193-1143719168.jpg

and

http://www.apasseggionelbosco.it/forum/uploads/post-193-1143719200.jpg

Now I simply wouldn't eat that regardless of what I thought it was (it shouts out Cort to me), so it must have been confused with something else. The Chanterelle has been suggested as a possible confusion species. Not to my eyes! I suppose it just might have been taken along with a batch of Lactarius sp, some of which are edible, or maybe Brown Roll Rim (which has recently been reclassified as deadly, anyway!).

The bottom line is: don't eat wild fungi unless you absolutely know what you're doing. I play safe with fungi that can't reasonably be confused with anything else...Chanterelle, Horn of Plenty, Cep, Hedgehog. I have also taken a few Millers (the best of all fungi) in my time. But that's one where you have to be absolutely absolutely sure, because Clitocybe dealbata looks very like it and grows in the same sort of environments, and is deadly. Smell is the clue with the Miller....it smells of meal, although I reckon I can get notes of metallic fish oil, too.