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Any fungi about? (1 Viewer)

Leif

Well-known member
Has anyone come across any fungi recently? The only ones I've seen were some Oyster mushrooms on fallen Beech, and some Leucocoprinus birnbaumii growing alongside my indoor chilli plants.

Leif
 
jackied said:
I have seen some nice Giant Puffballs recently, any ideas on the best way to cook them?
Jackie

According to Roger Phillips in Wild Food, you can slice them - 1/4 thick - coat with a light batter followed by bread crumbs then fry, he suggests bacon fat, assuming you eat bacon. Make sure they are white and not discoloured otherwise they will not be good to eat.

Looks like a Giant Puffball hunt is called for! I presume you found them in open fields?

Leif
 
I saw this one while I was out walking today, growing on a dead log. Anyone know what it is?

Yaffle
 

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Yaffle said:
I saw this one while I was out walking today, growing on a dead log. Anyone know what it is?

Yaffle

Assuming that it was growing on coniferous wood, it's Calocera viscosa.

Leif
 
Yes indeed it is Calocera viscosa, I have now found some pictures on other sites.

It was growing in woodland shade at Box Hill in Surrey, although I wasn't aware of any conifers in the vicinity. Plenty of yew trees around though.

Many thanks,

Yaffle
 
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Yaffle said:
Yes indeed it is Calocera viscosa, I have now found some pictures on other sites.

It was growing in woodland shade at Box Hill in Surrey, although I wasn't aware of any conifers in the vicinity. Plenty of yew trees around though.

Many thanks,

Yaffle

I've never known whether or not Yew counts as a conifer. It is evergreen, but it seems to have its own fungus flora, distinct from conifers. For example one common parasite of Yew is the Sulphur Polypore which also grows on deciduous trees such as Oak but it does not grow on conifers such as Pine.

Leif
 
Leif said:
Has anyone come across any fungi recently? The only ones I've seen were some Oyster mushrooms on fallen Beech, and some Leucocoprinus birnbaumii growing alongside my indoor chilli plants.

Leif

Very dry in SW Scotland (Wigtownshire), but I have seen good material of Amanita rubescens, Russula fellea, Bovista plumbea and Handkea utriformis while doing botanical recording in the past week.

Alan

Edit: two more I forgot:- Panaeolus semiovatus and a very fine Snowy Inkcap, Coprinus niveus.
 
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We have some brown fungi growing in a perfect circle around the trees in our front garden.They just look like brown mushrooms.I am sorry, but a novice when it comes to this.Only happened the past 2 years after I fed a weed and feed to the lawn, below the trees.I am told,this is down to harming the tree surface roots.HELP.............. :h?: I pick them early morning but they keep coming back and the lawn has 2 brown circles. :bounce:
 
Out on the fells this afternoon and picked some nice fresh mushrooms, fried them off with fresh garlic and olive oil for tea, yummy.

Plenty in the pastures and fells in my area at the moment, couple of friends out picking today after last nights warm rain.

Puffballs tend to be very bland (tasteless even!) fry them in butter with fresh (or puree) garlic or onions.

Stewart
 
Mary Evelyn said:
We have some brown fungi growing in a perfect circle around the trees in our front garden.They just look like brown mushrooms.I am sorry, but a novice when it comes to this.Only happened the past 2 years after I fed a weed and feed to the lawn, below the trees.I am told,this is down to harming the tree surface roots.HELP.............. :h?: I pick them early morning but they keep coming back and the lawn has 2 brown circles. :bounce:


Hi Mary,

Your brown fungus could be one of many things and not necessarily bad.

If you used weedkiller and weakened the tree roots, then yes it is possible that they were then invaded by a parasitic fungus, though it is equally possible, if not more probable, that the fungus would have invaded anyway. Honey Fungus, for example, spreads from one tree to another and is able to invade healthy trees.

Often, though, when a fungus grows in rings round a tree, this fungus is actually beneficial to the tree. Trees usually depend on fungi to aid in their nutrition, and the tree roots and the fungus form a partnership called a 'mycorrhiza'. (Much dispute on whether 'mycorrhiza' is singular or plural, I am taking it as singular here.) If it wasn't for the fungus, the tree would grow much more poorly. Many of these beneficial mycorrhizal fungi are brown.

So your brown fungi may well be a good thing!

If they are responsible for the brown circles in the lawn, then they may be nothing to do with the tree at all.

In any of these cases, picking the toadstools each day will make no difference. These are just the fungus's way of releasing spores for dispersal to some other place and they will decay in two or three days in any case. The active part of the fungus remains below ground.

If you are able to take a digital photograph (or get someone else to do so) then we may be able to guess what exactly your fungus is and which of these possibilities is correct.

Alan
 
Silver said:
Hi Mary,

Your brown fungus could be one of many things and not necessarily bad.

If you used weedkiller and weakened the tree roots, then yes it is possible that they were then invaded by a parasitic fungus, though it is equally possible, if not more probable, that the fungus would have invaded anyway. Honey Fungus, for example, spreads from one tree to another and is able to invade healthy trees.

Often, though, when a fungus grows in rings round a tree, this fungus is actually beneficial to the tree. Trees usually depend on fungi to aid in their nutrition, and the tree roots and the fungus form a partnership called a 'mycorrhiza'. (Much dispute on whether 'mycorrhiza' is singular or plural, I am taking it as singular here.) If it wasn't for the fungus, the tree would grow much more poorly. Many of these beneficial mycorrhizal fungi are brown.

So your brown fungi may well be a good thing!

If they are responsible for the brown circles in the lawn, then they may be nothing to do with the tree at all.

In any of these cases, picking the toadstools each day will make no difference. These are just the fungus's way of releasing spores for dispersal to some other place and they will decay in two or three days in any case. The active part of the fungus remains below ground.

If you are able to take a digital photograph (or get someone else to do so) then we may be able to guess what exactly your fungus is and which of these possibilities is correct.

Alan

Thankyou Alan,I will get my son to take a picture as soon as the fungi returns.If it is beneficial to the trees then I am happy to leave well alone,even though it spoils the look of the lawn. :flowers:
 
Hi Alan,
These are the pics we took tonight at 5.30pm, after work.The trees involved and the fungi.I have left the grass to grow for a few weeks because of the fungi.I would be very grateful for your help.
 

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Mary Evelyn said:
Hi Alan,
These are the pics we took tonight at 5.30pm, after work.The trees involved and the fungi.I have left the grass to grow for a few weeks because of the fungi.I would be very grateful for your help.

Hi Mary,

I think we have to go with possibility number three, that the fungus is nothing to do with the tree, nor with your previous treatment of the lawn.

The photographs need a bit more definition, but the tree appears to be an Ash, and Ash forms mycorrhizas only with a small group of microscopic soil fungi, not with any toadstool species. Nor do the fungi look like any parasitic species.

It would be good to see the gills - I should have suggested that one of the toadstools was picked and turned over before the photographs were taken. However, although the focus isn't great, your fungus looks like it is 'Fairy-Ring Champignon' (Marasmius oreades).
The gills should be pale cream in colour, rather thick and widely spaced, and the whole toadstool should be tough and rubbery. It is a frequent species of lawns and short grass, especially in summer and early autumn, and yes it does grow in very distinct rings.

It is almost certainly the cause of your brown circles in the lawn. It causes complex chemical changes in the soil, sometimes stimulating grass growth, sometimes killing it. I have a book on fungal diseases of amenity grasslands and Fairy-Ring Champignon gets several pages devoted to it!
The bad news is that control is very difficult. General fungicides will not work and the few chemicals that seem to have some effect are themselves highly toxic or carcinogenic. The best general advice seems to be to keep the lawn damp - it does better in dry conditions.
The fungus will probably vanish in time in any case.

It is, incidentally, a highly regarded edible species, but there are some quite similar fungi that are highly poisonous and which also grow on lawns. I am not in much doubt about my suggested identification, but I will not be 100% definite from these photographs.

Hoping this helps!

Alan
 
Hi Alan,
Thankyou so much for your help.
I have just bought a new camera today.fuji A 370 ,5 million pixels and it may take better photos.I will try to take better pics. but thanks again for your help Alan ,I am most grateful.
 
Hi Alan,I have tried again although I am not used to the functions on the camera.I hope these are clearer.
Pic 4 is not around the base of a tree,it is just an ornamental log.
I think you are right and thank you so much for your help. :flowers:
 

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Mary Evelyn said:
Hi Alan,I have tried again although I am not used to the functions on the camera.I hope these are clearer.
Pic 4 is not around the base of a tree,it is just an ornamental log.
I think you are right and thank you so much for your help. :flowers:

It sounds like Alan has sorted your earlier id.

In your recent posting the ones on the log (far right) look like Coprinus micaceus.

Alan is right about not assuming a fungus is edible based on an internet id. One point to note is that M. oreades often grows alongside Clitocybe dealbata which is deadly poisonous and rather similar in appearance. Hence you might indeed find some edible ones, but you have to id every single one and not just one of them!!!!

Leif
 
Leif said:
It sounds like Alan has sorted your earlier id.

In your recent posting the ones on the log (far right) look like Coprinus micaceus.

Alan is right about not assuming a fungus is edible based on an internet id. One point to note is that M. oreades often grows alongside Clitocybe dealbata which is deadly poisonous and rather similar in appearance. Hence you might indeed find some edible ones, but you have to id every single one and not just one of them!!!!

Leif
Thankyou Leif,but I wasn't thinking of eating any,I value my health B :)
Being a novice with both my camera and fungi,I am extremely grateful for your's and Alans help.
 
Leif said:
Has anyone come across any fungi recently? The only ones I've seen were some Oyster mushrooms on fallen Beech, and some Leucocoprinus birnbaumii growing alongside my indoor chilli plants.

Leif

Hi Leif and others

The recent rain has brought quite a few fungi on at least in some of the more open parkland areas locally. Some interesting Boletus spp. - B. appendiculatus (see photo) more a southern species(?) not common around here, B. rubellus and B. communis also appearing in grassland under oak. Nice Ganoderma which I think is G. resinaceum (photo) and a new fungus for me on a conifer brash fire site Rhizina undulata (photo) - it had a great network of rhizoids strands underneath!

Can anyone help with the id the 'brown furry fungus' growing on spruce needles and a rotten stump, the cut section was white with fibrous strands radiating outwards. Not like any earthball.

One last photo, a really nice fungus Oudemansiella mucida just too photogenic to ignore!

Lets have some more.

Fungbot
 

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