Pretty in Porcelain

29 Wednesday Oct 2025

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Beech fungi, British fungi, fungi on Beech, Oudemansiella mucida, Porcelain Fungus

It’s been ages since I’ve seen Porcelain fungus (Oudemansiella mucida) so, though it was a bit sad to see an enormous old Beech tree had lost one of its huge branches, it was a real treat for me to see tiny bulb-shaped fungi emerging all over the wood.

There were hundreds of them, and I’ve just read on the First Nature website that this is due to the fact that ‘Oudemansiella mucida releases a powerful fungicide that deters or even annihilates competitors’, giving Porcelain fungus exclusive access to the nutrients of the fallen Beech.

Porcelain fungus is found exclusively on Beech, usually on dead or dying fallen branches on the ground but sometimes on dead branches high up in the canopy of an old tree.

The mucida in its scientific name refers to the slimy mucus that covers the upper sides of the caps of this fungus. And, though the idea of mucus might give a negative impression, these are stunning fungi, especially when the fruiting bodies are fully open. Their pure white colour and the translucence of their caps is where the common name Porcelain comes from.

Once was a tree

30 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, trees

≈ 8 Comments

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Brittlestem, Burgundydrop bonnet, fungus, Hairy curtain crust, honey fungus, Oysterling, Porcelain Fungus, slime mould, Trichia varia, Turkeytail

It’s always sad to see a mighty old tree fall, no more to see its bare branches flush with green in early spring or hear the blackbird singing in the evening dusk from its high branches.

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This huge old tree came down one wild and stormy night last winter and was soon sawn into manageable, though still huge logs by council staff. Fortunately, those logs were not removed, but merely hauled off the woodland path so, though the tree is dead, its wood is now home to an amazing display of fungi.

I suspect fungi may have contributed to its demise as there is an enormous amount of wood-rotting Honey fungus spouting forth around its roots. It’s a little difficult to separate out this tree and its branches from the surrounding small trees and old stumps but the whole small area is now awash with fungal growth, including Burgundydrop bonnet, Hairy curtain crust and Turkeytail, the Porcelain fungus that I blogged about recently, a species of Oysterling and another of Brittlestem, as well as at least one slime mould, Trichia varia. The poor old tree lives on by providing nutrients to all these other living organisms.

The fungus that looks like porcelain

10 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature, parks, trees

≈ 8 Comments

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beech trees, fungus, Heath Park, Oudemansiella mucida, Porcelain Fungus, strobilurins

I saw my very first Oudemansiella mucida, the Porcelain Fungus, last Friday, during a wander around Cardiff’s Heath Park and knew at once what it was. Such immediacy of identification does not happen often in the world of the fungi fanciers so this was a rare and much-valued moment. But this is one fungus that is easy to recognise.

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Firstly, it lives exclusively on beech, and I have been keeping a close watch on a huge old beech tree that came down in a big storm last winter, which, much to their credit, was sawn into huge chunks and left at the woodland edge by Cardiff Council staff. The beech is now providing a home to many small creatures, not just to fungi. Secondly, it is a clean, almost translucent white, like my granny’s tea cups used to be, and its caps are frequently covered in a thin layer of slime (hence the second part of their scientific name: mucida refers to this transparent mucus). That’s not as revolting as it sounds – the shiny surface makes these little beauties shimmer in the sunshine.

Interestingly, this fungus produces chemicals called strobilurins, which have anti-fungal properties. The Porcelain Fungus uses them to inhibit and even attack opposition fungi in order to protect its territory but scientists have refined these same chemicals to produce anti-fungal agents that can protect crops from fungal attacks. Like so many fungi, the Porcelain fungus is beautiful and utile.