272/365 A polypore

29 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

Tags

British fungi, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Dryad's saddle, polypore fungus, Polyporus squamosus

Sadly, between one visit to Cosmeston and the next this spectacular fungus had almost been obliterated.

190929 polypore (1)

I think it’s a specimen of Polyporus squamosus, also known as Dryad’s saddle, which can grow to 60cm across, usually on the wood of deciduous trees, sometimes singly, occasionally in limited layers.

190929 polypore (2)

This one had been munched on top, probably by a slug or snail, but I imagine its downfall came at human hands, or feet, as it was growing in an area of woodland that is often frequented by children. A shame, as I was looking forward to following its growth.

Nibbled area top left

70/365 Like orange teardrops

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British fungi, Common jellyspot, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Dacrymyces stillatus, jellyspot fungus, orange jellyspot

According to Pat O’Reilly’s brilliant First Nature website, the scientific name for Common jellyspot, which is Dacrymyces stillatus, is ‘named from Dacry- meaning a tear (as in weeping) and –myces meaning fungus, while the specific epithet stillatus means poured or dripped. Hence Dacrymyces stillatus means teardrop-like fungi that look as though they have dripped on to the substrate.’ In this particular case the substrate is a series of fence posts at Cosmeston, where I’ve seen this jellyspot growing for several months now.

50/365 Conifer mazegill

19 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British fungi, Conifer mazegill, fungi on conifers, Gloeophyllum sepiarium, mazegill fungi

I first found this fungus last week and went back today to get more photos. It had me flummoxed at first – it looked mazegill-ish but is growing on a handrail so I couldn’t identify the wood and couldn’t match the fungus to anything in my books. Fortunately, there are some extremely knowledgeable fungi experts around who are generous with their assistance and one in particular, Andy Overall, was able to identify this from my photos.

190219 conifer mazegill (3)

This is Conifer mazegill – its scientific name is a bit of a mouthful, Gloeophyllum sepiarium – and it’s a wood-rotter, feasting, as the name implies, on the dead wood of conifers.

190219 conifer mazegill (2)

The examples I’ve found are very young and don’t look anything like the stiff brackets they will grow in to, though the Mushroom Expert website has one image of this early stage, and a lot more information if you’re interested.

190219 conifer mazegill (1)

45/365 Sweet heart

14 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British fungi, elfcup fungi, red elfcup, Scarlet elfcup

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

To be honest, I’m not one to get excited about days like today – too much commercial hype and money wasted on needless rubbish. But, when I spotted this almost-heart-shaped Scarlet elfcup, I thought I would at least share a little love for Nature from Nature.

26/365 Velvet shanks

26 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature, winter

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

#365DaysWild, British fungi, British mushrooms, Flammulina velutipes, Velvet shanks

These honey-coloured mushrooms, Velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes), can most often be found growing in the cold days of winter in groups on hardwood trees, which is where I found these beauties this morning, sprouting out of what remained of a large roadside tree that had been chopped off at a height of about four feet. Fungi expert Pat O’Reilly explains the origin of the scientific name on his First Nature website: ‘… Flammulina is a reference to the orange caps, which shine like “little flames” in the winter sunshine … [and] velutipes means “with velvet legs’’, and that’s exactly what the stems of these winter fungi look and feel like.’

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Fungi Friday: Turkey tails

21 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#FungiFriday, British fungi, fungi, fungus, Trametes versicolor, Turkey tail, Turkeytail

I’ve been collecting these images of Turkey tail fungi (Trametes versicolor) for the past couple of months, thinking they would be appropriate for the last Fungi Friday before Christmas seeing as how a lot of people eat turkey for their Christmas dinner.
So, merry feasting … but not on these!

181221 turkey tails (1)

Fungi Friday: variety

14 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#FungiFriday, black-and-white fungi, British fungi, diversity of fungi, fungal diversity, fungus, Heath Park, shapes of fungi, textures of fungi

I took myself off for a fungi foray around the woodland at Cardiff’s Heath Park today as it’s usually a good place to find a wide variety of fungi. And, rather than post colour photos of my finds, I thought I’d convert them all to black and white as that shows, I think, the fungal world’s amazing diversity of shapes and textures.

Friday night discos

30 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bisporella citrina, British fungi, cup fungi, disco fungi, fungi on rotting wood, Lachnum virgineum, Lemon disco, Snowy disco

Discos seem appropriate for a Friday night or, rather, they would have in the 1960s and ’70s. But my discos don’t involve a multi-colour dance floor or a flashing-ball light or John Travolta-style dancing – my discos are fungi. Getting down and dirty in Cogan Wood earlier this week, selectively picking up small logs of rotting wood for inspection, I found two of these little beauties.

181130 snowy disco Snowy disco (Lachnum virgineum)

181130 lemon disco Lemon disco (Bisporella citrina)

Disclaimer: Fungi are notoriously difficult to identify and one thing I’ve learnt from dipping my toes into the mycological world is that one should always confirm one’s identification, especially of minute fungi like these, by microscopic examination. I have not done that so my IDs are not confirmed, just quite likely.

Crepidotus calolepis

23 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#FungiFriday, British fungi, Crepidotus calolepis, Oysterling, oysterling fungi

Happy #FungiFriday! I actually found these little oysterling fungi a few weeks ago but forgot to share them at the time.

181123 Crepidotus calolepis (1)

Crepidotus calolepis is a bit of a mouthful but these little beauties don’t have a common name. Here’s what fungi expert Pat O’Reilly says about its scientific name:

The generic name Crepidotus comes from crepid- meaning a base such as a shoe or a slipper (although some sources state that it means ‘cracked’), and otus, meaning an ear – hence it suggests a ‘slipper-like ear’. In the past mushrooms in this genus were sometimes referred to as slipper mushrooms. The specific epithet calolepis may come from the roots calo- meaning beautiful and lepis, meaning with scales.

181123 Crepidotus calolepis (2)

O’Reilly is doubtful about the presence of Crepidotus calolepis in Britain, suggesting that the British records are, in fact, scaly forms of Crepidotus mollis, the Peeling oysterling, but my find was confirmed from photos by two other British experts so C. calolepis it is!

181123 Crepidotus calolepis (5)

A new Earthstar

16 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#FungiFriday, British fungi, collared earthstar, earthstar, earthstar fungus, Geastrum triplex

You can’t have a blog called Earthstar without occasionally having a post about an Earthstar, so here it is.

181116 earthstar (3)

Though I searched for these amazing little fungi at a known location in Cathays Cemetery a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t find any. So, I was delighted when a birding acquaintance showed me this solitary Earthstar at a completely new location earlier this week.

181116 earthstar (2)

This is Geastrum triplex, a Collared earthstar. I’ve previously only found them under conifers but the experts say they are most often found, like this one, under hardwood trees.

181116 earthstar (1)

I gave its sac a poke to show my friend how the spores are released – let’s hope that also helped to spread the spores so we see more of these little stunners in future.

181116 earthstar (4)