Newsletter: March 2015 Welcome to the March 2015 Edition of the TVFG Newsletter Yet again the 2014 fungus season started dry in September, with timely rain in October and a mild, damp autumn/early winter. As a result, the season has lasted into the New Year, although by mid- January 2015, it had turned decidedly chilly. One effect of the early dry spell seems to have been a reduction in the numbers and variety of mycorrhizal fungi. Interestingly, all but one of our forays, including our final foray at Sulham in December, resulted in identification of between 50 and 70 species. The exception was the all-day foray at Greenham and Bowdown, which yielded more than twice that number of species. Finally, my thanks to all of you who have contributed to this edition. I would particularly like to thank Harold Gough, who provided so many stunning photographs from the forays that he attended, that I have had real difficulty in deciding which material to use, and Caroline Jackson-Houlston for her beautiful illustration (opposite) of the Boletus luridiformis var. luridiformis found on the St Neots foray. Boletus luridiformis var. luridiformis at St. Neots Mike Harrison ©Caroline Jackson-Houlston ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A VINTAGE WAXCAP SEASON! WHAT’S THIS IN MY SOUP? Sandra Parkinson, who has good waxcap sites on her That’s a good question, according to a recent paper land at Chalkhills, reports that 2014 was the best by two Kew Mycologists. When they checked a waxcap season she has had since about 1998, both commercial packet of dried porcini from China, from for the number of species and the quantity of caps. a shop in London, using DNA analysis, they found that of the 15 pieces sampled, all were one of three She sees a few Hygrocybe species every year, but all different species that did not yet have scientific are appearing later and later, perhaps because names or descriptions. recently it has not been cold enough earlier in the season. The peak time for most species used to be Although it was already known that unidentified mid-October, except for H. russocoriacea, which species were entering the porcini supply chain, this typically appears around early November and shows was a surprise. So – do you know what’s in your up until Christmas. This year, she found at least 7 mushroom soup? species on 24th November and was able to eat Reference: Dentinger, B.T. & Suz, L.M. (2014). What’s for Meadow Waxcap (H. pratensis var. pratensis) until dinner? Undescribed species in commercial porcini from mid-December. China. PeerJ 2:e570 Available online ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2014 FORAY REPORTS UK Fungus Day 2014 – Chalkhills, Whitchurch: 12th October th Hornley Common, Yateley: 14 September The TVFG contribution to National Fungus Day Joint Foray with West Weald FRG involved a morning foray for members and an Of the five people foraying, one was a WWFRG and afternoon public foray for families. Both were very one a TVFG member and three members of both. poorly attended - 4 in the morning, 4 in the The site is on acid soil. Some parts are dominated by afternoon - and no ‘families’, despite the dry broadleaved trees, especially birch but with weather (compared with 2013), and the reopening significant oak, beech, chestnut and willow, while of the nearby bridge over the Thames. other parts are dominated by pine. A beech and TVFG is a small group, and it was known beforehand chestnut slope which has provided rare hydnoids in that some of the ‘core’ members would be unable to the past, on this occasion only gave us Hydnum attend. Three members did visit the site beforehand, repandum. to do a recce and collect fungi for a static display at Because it was a very dry September we spent much Chalkhills, for which I was most grateful. Even the of the time in the damp woodland to the north of recent rain after the long dry spell of weather was Hawley Lake. not enough to produce much in the way of fungi. In 2013 the static display covered the equivalent of 5 Overall we found 55 species: more fungi than some large tables - in 2014 only 2. In 2013 there was a people had expected. Best finds were Volvariella display of about 2 dozen species from lawns or bombycina, and Melanoleuca exscissa. grassland – in 2014 only 4. Mike Waterman Shirley and Theo Kirstein came in the afternoon with ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a lovely set of specimens from sites in Hampshire th College Copse Farm: 20 September and Berkshire – but there were virtually no members Joint Foray with Hampshire FRG of the public to appreciate them. College Copse Farm is a working farm used to house The afternoon Foray was led by Rod D’ayala, with the HWT‘s grazing herd, but still has patches of Caroline Jackson-Houlston, and I am most grateful to reportedly ancient, damp birch/willow/alder them for this. I stayed behind in the farm building to woodland. The dry ground did not encourage us as ‘supervise’ the fungi display – but this turned out to we walked across the farmland to the woodland, be unnecessary. with the only excitement being dense clumps of the ringless Armillaria tabescens growing on dead oak I would also like to thank WoTHabs for supervising stumps. car parking (2 cars!) and doing refreshments (mostly for TVFG members). Once in the woodland, finds were still sparse but included several unusual species. The "roll-rim" Sandra Parkinson Paxillus rubicundulus was found under alder and ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ some gracile Amanitas under birch/willow turned UK FUNGUS DAY 2015 -11th OCTOBER out to be A. olivaceogrisea. A group of the small, hairy Phaemarasmius erinaceus found growing on a Sandra will not be running this event, although she willow branch received my vote for “rind of the has offered her barn for a static fungi display, if day”. Other habitat-specific species were Lactarius other TVFG members want to help to support this obscuratus, Hymenoscyphus salicellus found by Mike national event to promote public interest, Waterman and Inocybe ovatocystis (with its balloon- knowledge, and understanding of the importance of like cystidia). fungi to life on earth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As has been normal this season, Paul Hugill’s box th was soon bulging with resupinates, among which Greenham Common and Bowdown: 19 October Joint Foray with Hampshire FRG were Gloeocystidiellum clavuligerum - a first for Hampshire with only a handful of UK records from After a week of relatively high temperatures for mid- Surrey and Hertfordshire, and a couple more for his October, with at least some rain every day, the book; Hyphodontia arguta and Tomentella weather was kind to us and stayed both warm and sublilacina, the latter also new to VC12 and the dry. group. Thirteen forayers from HFRG and TVFG enjoyed a Eric Janke (HFRG) productive day. Although there were not huge numbers of fungi, there was enough variety to keep ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ everyone interested, with around 60 species found little red-spored Melanophyllum haematospermum, on Greenham Common itself and more than 100 at which seems to be a regular at this site. I had seen it Bowdown . only once before, almost exactly a year previously, growing in our back garden in soil enriched with We spent the morning on the common, where Alan compost and bark chippings. Lucas found Phellinus conchatus (which he nominated as his find of the day) on a rotten stump Mike Harrison and the little bell-shaped Calyptella campanula on a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ dead nettle stem. Eric Janke’s choice was the blue- th St Neots School, Eversley: 26 October black grassland species Entoloma atrocoruleum. Sue Rogerson found the grey resupinate Tulasnella This was the first time we have visited this private thelephorea – the first time it has been recorded in site and perhaps because of this, the foray was one Berkshire for almost 50 years. of the best attended this year. It didn’t disappoint with the 10 forayers identifying a total of 65 species. In the afternoon, we moved on to the part of the nearby Bowdown Reserve known as the “bomb dump”. This was a damper site with more tree cover and a wider range of fungi, including a large drift of Geastrum triplex. Forayers at St Neots © Harold Gough The site provides a mix of deciduous and coniferous woodland and also an area of damp grassland, which delivered several of the more interesting finds. These included examples of the bright orange Geastrum triplex at Bowdown © Paul Hugill parasitic Cordyceps militaris, and the yellow fairy Eric’s list of the more interesting fungi found there club Clavulinopsis laeticolor. included Lactarius citriolens, Russula gracillima and Melanoleuca grammopodia (if only because it wasn’t M. polioleuca!) Lactarius citriolens at Bowdown © Paul Hugill Among the fungi identified by Alan was the unusual chisel-shaped ascomycete Glyphium elatum, growing Cordyceps militaris at St. Neots © Harold Gough on an attached hawthorn branch - a new Berkshire record. Paul Hugill nominated the spiny little Also in the grass was the colourful Boletus resupinate Tubulicium vermiferum as his fungus of luridiformis var. luridiformis. The coniferous the day, but my favourite from Bowdown was the woodland produced a number of typical species including Phaeolus schweinitzii, Trichaptum Several unusual species found in 2013 turned up abietinum, Baeospora myosura and the Earpick again, including Serpula himantioides: the “wild” fungus, Auriscalpium vulgare. form of dry rot and the bracket Postia wakefieldiae. Another nice find was the little Hemimycena A pale Leccinum attracted a bit of attention, but the tortuosa, with water droplets along the stem. colour change in the cut stem revealed it was only a washed out Leccinum scabrum, not L.