mushroom leaflet artwork:Layout 1 23/10/09 13:58 Page 1 Background photo: ar ncp( Inkcap Fairy ....and some fungi that Fairies and witches

Fascinated by fungi and Coprinellus disemminatus Massive! Blewit ( Wood you probably won't see. One of the largest, heaviest and oldest living things Think of ‘dingly dells’ and toadstools, and you will almost certainly The wild and want to know more? known on earth is a mushroom growing in North West conjure up fairytale imagery, with perhaps a hint of sinister unease. America. It weighs in at an estimated 150 metric Lepista nuda Fungi have held a strong and evocative place in British folklore, much These are rare and are tonnes, covers 890 hectares and is at least 2,400 years more so than in other European countries, which perhaps partly wonderful world of To find out more about fungi in your area, contact your local council old. Now that’s a monster and the same Honey

areCampbell Laurie © ) explains why we eat them less. If comparing the number of species ) listed in the UK Biodiversity rangers, the British Mycological Society (www.britmycolsoc.org.uk), (Armillaria ostoyae) is widespread in Scotland! Campbell Laurie © on sale for eating, in the UK there are hardly any, in Switzerland there Action Plan. or Plantlife Scotland. There are several local fungus recording are 78 and in Sweden there are at least 300! groups across Scotland that you could join. Honey Fungus (Armillaria ostoyae) © Joe Sutton, Plantlife Witches have played a part in fungi myths. Look for the growths on trees that are a mass of small twigs growing in a cluster, known as Witches’ Broom, resembling a huge bird’s nest. In folklore these were thought to Scottish Fungi Beastly connections be caused by witches flying overhead on broom sticks but actually this is White Stalkball Tulostoma niveum Just as there are close associations of fungi with plants, there are also a fungi from the Exoascus family. close associations with invertebrate animals. In Scotland, some wood This puffball is very rare. In Britain it is known only on A fungus called Witches’ Butter ( glandulosa), is a nasty-looking two Scottish mountains where it grows amongst mosses wasps and beetles use fungi to help break down food for their larvae. olive-black gelatinous growth on decaying twigs, and it was thought on exposed limestone boulders. Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) use special sticky knobs on that witches and trolls scattered this about when they milked cows AUTUMN AND WINTER their to capture eel-worms, using their body fluids as food. © Liz Holden The Scottish Wild Mushroom Code gives during the night. up to date information on collecting Giant Wood Wasp (Urocerus gigas) © Holger Gröschl Fairies are important too. There was an old superstition that a girl mushrooms sustainably, and can be viewed could improve her appearance by bathing her face in the dew on a May Mushroom or toadstool? morning, but woe betide her if she did this inside a fairy ring! It was said Fairy on the Forest Harvest Website: There is no scientific difference between the meanings of the that fairies could avenge themselves by spoiling her complexion with spots and blemishes. A fairy ring, which can often appear overnight, was Rings words mushroom and toadstool, and although modern usage www.forestharvest.org.uk apparently the result of fairies dancing in a circle whilst humans slept. suggests that a mushroom is edible and a toadstool is not, both Witches Broom (Taphrina betulina) Join Plantlife today to help us protect terms can be used to describe any fleshy fruiting body with a © Alan Watson/Forest Light cap and stem. The Scots term for mushroom or toadstool is Gloves our fantastic Scottish fungi puddock-stool, puddock being a Scots word for toad. rhododendri In the UK, this amazing rubber glove-like rare fungus Climate change has mainly been found on standing, dead stems of Hazel, Loss of unimproved but also on living Hazel branches and living and dead Loss of sand branches of Blackthorn. It is known in coastal woodland dunes to lawns and pastures sites in western Scotland. Thank fungi for cakes development through ploughing ALL YEAR ROUND Devil's Tooth Without yeast, itself a fungus, there would be no beer, which or the addition of © Liz Holden Hydnellum peckii was of incalculable benefit to early civilisations for sterilising fertilisers Often found beneath , in damp weather Devil’s Tooth contaminated water.Nor would we have bread, some cakes produces ruby-like drops of liquid on its cap. This liquid and meat substitutes, all made by the fermenting ability of fungi. Our contains a mushroom pigment called atromentin, which BRITISH has anticoagulant properties similar to heparin. Look LICHEN underneath the cap of a tooth fungus and you will see SOCIETY fantastic Loss of wayside tooth-like structures as opposed to gills or tubes. The native Removal of pinewoods of Scotland are a hotspot for tooth fungi in the UK. This booklet was written and produced by Plantlife Scotland, who would like to thank Roy Watling and and hedgerow Scottish Natural Heritage for the Naturally Scottish Series booklet, Fungi, which was an inspiration deadwood fungi are SUMMER AND AUTUMN trees © Mark Gurney and David Genney (top right) for this leaflet and is available from SNH Publications. threatened ISBN: 978-1-907141-07-2 Twig gluing - an amazing adaptation Angel’s Ebony Cup Pseudoplectania nigrella The Glue Crust fungus ( corrugata) Wings © September 2009 This fungus grows on decaying wood, litter and soil in keeps dead Hazel twigs for itself by gluing them Airborne coniferous, usually pine, forests. Fruiting in late winter, Plantlife Scotland, Balallan House, Allan Park, Stirling FK8 2QG its shiny black cups make a stunning contrast to the Tel +44 (0)1786 478509 to living branches in the canopy, thus preventing pollution melting snows in March. Email [email protected] them from falling to the ground where many other Clear felling of WINTER AND SPRING www.plantlife.org.uk fungi would be competing for the nutrients. ancient woodland Unsustainable © Liz Holden Plantlife International – The Wild Plant Conservation Charity is a charitable company limited by guarantee. collection Registered Charity Number: 1059559 Charity registered in Scotland Number: SC038951 © Liz Holden Registered Company Number: 3166339, registered in England. mushroom leaflet artwork:Layout 1 23/10/09 13:59 Page 2

Background photo: Amethyst Deceiver Eco-heroes Wrinkled Fieldcap Laccaria amethystina Fungi you Agrocybe rivulosa Common and found growing in soil under trees. Scotland's secret kingdom Fungi are the planet’s natural recyclers. Many prevent the accumulation of dead plants and Growing on rotting wood Jelly Ear SUMMER AND AUTUMN Background photo: animals by breaking them down into nutrients. These are then used by growing plants, chips, this beautiful auricula-judae Scotland’s astonishing variety of fungi often goes unnoticed. Spectacular species was unknown to © Laurie Campbell This is conspicuously Waxcaps ( providing a sustainable environment not just for nature, but for humans and their crops. might see science before 2003 and ear shaped, and ranges in colour from species grow in our majestic Caledonian pine forests, in our Celtic rainforests probably came into the purple to dark brown or black, with a

of the west, on our dramatic ‘alpine’ mountains of the highlands, among our As well as breaking down dead material, some fungi can exist in partnership with living Hygrocybe UK on bark chippings rubbery texture. It is most often found on dead Elder trees but also on Elms. sand dunes and amidst our lovely ancient pastures as well as thriving in Dryad's Saddle ( things. Over 90 percent of our trees, shrubs and wild flowers depend upon fungi located in Scotland imported from overseas. AUTUMN ALL YEAR ROUND

within or upon their roots to survive. These fungi scavenge mineral salts and other ) areCampbell Laurie © Artist’s Bracket parks and gardens. nutrients such as organic phosphate from the surrounding soil, which they in turn make © www.wildaboutBritain © Laurie Campbell Ganoderma applanatum Turkeytail Trametes versicolor This bracket fungus, often found near the base of or on the stumps Polyporus squamosus available to their host plant. Fungi can also protect host plant roots from grazing by Common Bird's Nest This is a stunning fungus found on fallen logs or stumps of old trees, releases millions of rusty-coloured . invertebrates. In exchange the fungi receive sugars, carbohydrates and vitamins created by laeve of deciduous trees; in the late afternoon light its white What are fungi? Like a delicate bird’s nest containing It produces enzymes to break down living wood. ALL YEAR ROUND crinkly edges glow like ice-rimmed cocktail glasses. their host plants during photosynthesis. These associations are called mycorrhizas, and ‘eggs’, this fungus grows on woodland © Laurie Campbell ALL YEAR ROUND A kingdom of their own many mushrooms and toadstools we see in the autumn are involved in these processes. debris such as sticks, leaves, nutshells, needles, woodchips and dung. When a Bitter Beech Bolete © Laurie Campbell

Fungi are unlike plants and animals. In fact they are so different that they are put into ) Common Puffball

areCampbell Laurie © raindrop falls into the 'nest', the 'eggs' are Fungi also help humans fight disease and are the source of some of our Boletus calopus Lycoperdon perlatum a special kingdom of their own. projected out of the cup and use tiny, sticky Appearing in This puffball mushroom has a top covered most successful antibiotics. They provide food and shelter for many cords to attach themselves to new homes. coniferous and in short spines which quickly rub off leaving Unlike plants, fungi can’t photosynthesize. In other words they lack the ability to make insects and other creatures and of course, mushrooms are used in SUMMER AND AUTUMN Bog Beacon deciduous woodland, Mitrula paludosa a mosaic like pattern. At maturity, a hole © Walter Burns the flesh of this their own food from sunlight and simple nutrients. Instead, fungi absorb nutrients some of the best restaurants in the world. This fungus grows in old ditches in the top opens, releasing spores in fungus stains blue a cloud-like burst when the body is released by chemical action on the material on which they grow, whether this is with slowly moving water. when broken or Not all fungi are heroes. Some fungi kill some of their host's cells, be SPRING AND SUMMER compressed by rain drops, a human touch the bark of a tree, or soil, or leaves. bruised. Unlike or by a passing animal. It grows on the © Laurie Campbell they plant, animal, other fungi or even humans. These attacks can be some other Boletus ground in woods under hardwoods or An Earthtongue commercially damaging or cause illness but are generally not fatal. mushrooms it is conifers, but is also common along Mushrooms and toadstools – the tip of the iceberg Geoglossum cookeanum False Morel not edible. Gyromitra esculenta roadsides and in urban settings. However eating fungi can prove fatal if you make a mistake and eat The Earthtongues are found in the SUMMER AND AUTUMN The mushrooms and toadstools that you see above ground are just the tip of a great short grass of unimproved grasslands. This handsome fungus is usually found in sandy © David Genney SUMMER AND AUTUMN Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare the wrong variety as some are poisonous. The beautiful Chanterelle mushroom pine forests. Not to be mistaken for the edible This small gill fungus grows prolifically in AUTUMN © Liz Holden © Laurie Campbell biological iceberg. They are merely the large and obvious reproductive structures – the (Cantharellus cibarius) is a favourite morel, this fungus contains gyromitrin, which the Orange Peel Fungus large clumps on stumps, dead roots or the ‘fruit’ of the fungi world. Below the surface of the soil, under the bark of a tree or over its delicacy in Scottish meals. human digestive system breaks down into the Aleuria aurantia rotting trunks of broadleaved trees. © Lorne Gill The brilliant orange, cup-shaped fruit bodies Porcelain Fungus leaves stretches an immense growth of microscopic structures, hidden beyond our sight. How do they multiply? same substance as rocket fuel so it is definitely Oudemansiella mucida ALL YEAR ROUND one to avoid eating! SPRING of this fungus often resemble orange peel Many fungi reproduce sexually by shedding minute spores. strewn on the ground. It is found on bare clay Found on dead Beech, the © Laurie Campbell These hidden parts of fungi are composed of vast masses of filaments © Mary Bain shiny cream caps of this These tiny bodies are the fungal equivalent of plant seeds. or disturbed soil, for example along forest tracks, or even pushing up between the flag delicate species look like known as hyphae which, bunched together, form a mycelium. Birch Polypore or A single mushroom sheds millions of spores, which are usually stones in your garden! upturned fine china. The mycelium produces a reproductive structure, which is a Razorstrop Fungus SUMMER AND AUTUMN AUTUMN dispersed by wind, rain or contact with insects and other animals. Piptoporus betulinus bearing body. Spores are the fungal equivalent of seeds. © Laurie Campbell This bracket fungus is © David Genney Mushrooms and toadstools are the most familiar form of this Some species have developed more complex methods. Truffles seen on standing and reproductive structure but there are also brackets, cups, ‘hide’ underground but emit an odour which attracts mammals to toppled Birch trunks. Shaggy Inkcap Coprinus comatus Dried strips of it were This common fungus is often seen on coral-like shapes, puffballs, flat sheets of tissue or gelatinous blobs. dig them up and eat them. The spores are then liberated in their used to sharpen or lawns, waste areas, meadows and along Dryad's Saddle dung. Truffles are considered a great delicacy and in mainland Europe Yellowdrop Milkcap Lactarius chrysorrheus (right) “strop” barbers’ razors. gravel roads. It usually grows on buried Many, like the single-celled yeast fungi, are so small they are known and Woolly Milkcap Lactarius torminosus (left) Polyporus squamosus False Truffle pigs and dogs are trained to find them. ALL YEAR ROUND dead wood. The gills beneath the cap start ‘Dryad's Saddle’ refers to the tree nymphs of Greek (Elaphomyces granulatus) These are both milkcap fungi, identified by the as ‘micro-fungi’. © Liz Holden out white, then become pink, and finally mythology called Dryads who could conceivably fit Yellow Stagshorn A mushroom shape we all know disperses its spores in the milky substance that oozes out of the gills if they black. It secretes a black liquid filled with

well is the cap shape, as in the Fly and ride on this mushroom. It plays an important Calocera viscosa

dung of animals that eat it. are damaged. Woolly Milkcap grows only below spores, hence the ’ink cap’ name. Look carefully and this species can be seen very commonly

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t e autumn, and in fairy tales. Stinkhorns, growing erect in the woodland floor, emit a smell

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a a n luoelsporrigens Pleurotellus the insect lands and so are widely dispersed. Found around the

h n Fly Agaric d This pretty mushroom Sycamore Tarspot Rhytisma acerinum Pink Waxcap

p d rth. t e ea stumps of old

y Amanita muscaria appears in clumps on Growing as black dots on the leaves of h h t t Hygrocybe calyptriformis h h d e n Some fungi don't reproduce sexually but rely on hyphae which trees, it can be as l Common under Birch trees, stumps and logs of old Sycamore trees and other maples, this e y u This belongs to the group of the a o y r large as a football m g a divide or break into many parts. These grow into separate but this familiar red, spotted, broadleaved trees. fungus is an indicator of clean air. It is often brightly-coloured wax n w i s and looks a bit like poisonous mushroom was g u Not just found in wooded sensitive to sulphur dioxide, a common f o e Pinewood Gingertail associated with unimproved h u genetically identical individuals. a cauliflower. t e l m used in times past as a fly countryside, it is also urban pollutant, so it is a welcome sight h d i Xeromphalina campanella grassland. Its main habitats s t t t AUTUMN killer, broken up into milk t p ra ee common in urban parks in cities, especially as it does not damage include lawns, grassy meadows, re u vel thr Look out for clustered masses of small caps of this t e The Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) © Liz Holden or sprinkled with sugar. and gardens. the host tree. pastures and woodland margins. ch in delicate fungus, which fruits on rotting conifer logs, t L uses flies to distribute its spores SUMMER AND AUTUMN ALL YEAR ROUND ALL YEAR ROUND he h. © Laurie Campbell usually old pine. AUTUMN SUMMER AND AUTUMN leng itc th of a football p © Liz Holden © Laurie Campbell © Laurie Campbell © Laurie Campbell © Ray Woods FRONT COVER PHOTO: Wings ( Angel’s