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Tag Archives: Red campion smut

108/365 Smut in Bute Park

18 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bute Park, Microbotryum silenes-dioicae, Red campion, Red campion smut, Silene dioica, smut, smut fungus

One of my Facebook friends recently made the comment that you can never have too much smut so I immediately thought of him when I saw how much smut was to be found in Cardiff’s Bute Park this afternoon.

Before you think this blog is descending rapidly towards the gutter, let me quickly say that the smut to which I am referring is Microbotryum silenes-dioicae, a smut that occurs on the anthers of Red campion (Silene dioica) flowers. It’s a type of fungus that produces brown, powdery spores so it’s very easy to spot, as you can see below – the photo on the left shows a normal Red campion flower, the flowers on the right are smutty.

190418 (2) red campion without smut
190418 (3) red campion with smut

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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