Purple jelly

10 Friday Nov 2023

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Ascocoryne sarcoides, British fungi, purple fungi, Purple Jellydisc

I don’t see Purple jellydisc (Ascocoryne sarcoides) very often in my area – not sure why, so it was a lovely surprise to spot it on some felled trees in Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park last week. As the First Nature website explains, this fungus has two stages: the telemorphic stage where the fungus forms cup-like structures in which ascospores are produced and the anamorphic stage that I found in which asexual (cloned) conidia are produced. There is a very similar fungus, Ascocoryne cylichnium, but it only has cup-shaped fruit bodies.

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Cheery yellow

03 Friday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi

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Bisporella citrina, British fungi, cup fungi, Lemon disco, yellow fungi

After the last few grey, wet, windy days of Storm Ciarán, I thought we needed a little sunshine, even if it’s coming from the ground below rather than the sky above. It’s not exactly warming but it certainly made me feel more cheery after days of gloom. These are likely to be Lemon disco fungi (Bisporella citrina), though they really need examination under a microscope to be sure.

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Fungi fight back

27 Friday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in fungi

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British fungi, fungi on fence railing, fungi on wood panels, Jelly ear, Jelly ear on wood panels

These two fungi sightings made me smile because they reminded me that, given half a chance, Nature is very very good at fighting back against destruction by humans by colonising human-made products. The first fungi – little colonies of Jelly ear growing along the top and centre of the wood-panelled sides of a PortaCabin – were a surprise. I usually see Jelly ear on dead or dying Elder trees, and it can grow on other hardwood trees, but painted wood panels? Amazing, really.

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My second sighting, on the same day as the first, was not such a surprise, as the wooden structure of the boardwalk at Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve is now quite old and rotting in places. Fungi are very good at taking advantage of these situations.

231027 fungi (2)

Fungi at Cosmeston

20 Friday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi

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British fungi, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Entoloma incanum, Honey waxcap, Hygrocybe acutoconica, Hygrocybe reidii, Mousepee pinkgill, Persistent waxcap

After a few wet, grey and gusty days being battered by Storm Babet, I thought we could do with some Friday night bright colour so here are some recent fungi finds from Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

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The fungi above are Persistent waxcap (Hygrocybe acutoconica), the yellow beauties at the top above, and Mousepee pinkgill (Entoloma incanum), the lovely little green mushroom with the wonderful name. And, below, these are all Honey waxcaps (Hygrocybe reidii), in various stages of development.

231020 cosmeston fungi (1)

Dryad’s saddles

26 Friday May 2023

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bracket fungi, British fungi, Dryad's saddle, fungus, Polyporus squamosus

What a cracking pair these were, both at least 30 cms across, fresh, boldly marked, rigid, an imposing sight!

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These are Dryad’s saddles (Polyporus squamosus), named for their saddle-like shape that one might, with a liberal sprinkling of imagination, visualise being used by the tree nymphs for their travels through their forest domain.

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Cups aplenty

12 Friday May 2023

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

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British fungi, Cellar cup, cup fungi, Peziza cerea, Peziza species

I was surprised but delighted to find this large colony of fungi on a pile of woodchips earlier this week. I think these are Cellar cups (Peziza cerea), as they fit perfectly with the description in my guide book:

Pale cup associated with limestone and often found growing out of mortar joints in buildings. Solitary or in small groups on woody debris, sandbags, limestone rubble, lime mortar and, sometimes, in damp cellars. Fruit bodies to 5cm across irregular cup-shaped, with the margin inrolled at first; inner surface pale ochre or yellowish brown with a smooth texture; outer surface concolorous and finely granular.

However, there are over 50 species of similar cups in Britain, many of which grow in similar locations, so microscopic examination is needed to be sure of identification.

Orange mosscap

14 Friday Apr 2023

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British fungi, Orange mosscap, Rickenella fibula

When I first spotted this little orange tube poking out of the liverwort, mosses and a smattering of other tiny plants growing at the edge of a brick footpath, I wasn’t sure what it would develop into.

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Two days later all became clear. The tube had developed in to a lovely little fungus, an Orange mosscap (Rickenella fibula), and once I’d spotted that one, I found two more growing nearby. A delightful and unexpected surprise!

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New fungus: Linospora saligna

17 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by sconzani in fungi, trees

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British fungi, fungi on Salix leaves, fungi on willow leaves, fungus on leaf, Linospora saligna

Inspired by Gwent birder and naturalist Lee Gregory’s recent (3 March) first record for Wales of the fungus Linospora saligna, which looks like small dark speckles on dead Salix leaves, I went searching last Saturday morning in areas where I knew Willow trees grow. And I was a little surprised at how easy they were to find. I spotted the fungus at two locations along the path around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, and I’ve also since found it under Salix trees near Cardiff Bay’s Barrage. Although Lee’s record was a Welsh first and the NBN Atlas shows very few confirmed records for the rest of Britain, this is obviously another instance where a species is under-recorded, presumably because no one knows to look for it. I’m aware that Lee has already found several further records, and I will certainly continue to check for these speckled leaves wherever I see Willow trees.

230317 Linospora saligna

Wobbling no more

03 Friday Mar 2023

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British fungi, fungus, Tremella mesenterica, Yellow brain, Yellow Brain Fungus

I was hesitant with my identification of this fungus at first as previous examples I’ve seen have been yellow and jelly-like – poke them and they wobble.

Then I read, on the First Nature website, that ‘in dry weather this fungus becomes a hard orange bracket’. Also, this particular fungus feeds on other fungi, crusts in the Peniophora genus, and I couldn’t see any crusts on this branch. First Nature explains it again:

Very little or none of the Peniophora may be visible; this is because Tremella mesenterica feeds on the mycelium of the Peniophora fungus, and that can be deep inside the timber rather than on its surface. The fruiting body of the crust fungus does not even have to be present, therefore, and so it may look as though Yellow Brain is feeding directly on the host wood.

So, reassured by the website’s explanations, I believe I can confidently say this is Yellow brain fungus (Tremella mesenterica). Happy Fungi Friday!

Holly speckle

15 Wednesday Feb 2023

Posted by sconzani in fungi, plants

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British fungi, fungus on Holly, Holly, Holly speckle, Trochila ilicina

Have you ever noticed what look like little black spots on the brown fallen leaves of Holly? This is the perfectly named fungus Holly speckle (Trochila ilicina) and those spots, or speckles, are, in fact, the fungal fruiting bodies. When they first develop, they are a dark olive green but, after their lids open and the spores within are released, the speckles come to resemble tiny black craters. If you want to know more, a blog on the Woodlands.co.uk website has a very detailed description of these intriguing fungi, as well as an explanation of how their fruiting mechanism functions.

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