1 Shropshire Fungus Group Newsletter Contents SPRING 2011 NUMBER 10 Foray Reports Page 1 Pictures from the Public Foray Page 3 Some conifer associated fungi found in Wyre Forest Page 4 A Dream Come True Page 5 The White Thistle Mystery Page 6 Eye Sight Test Page 6 Sightings Page 7 Mycological tool or offensive weapon. Page 8 BMS Forays in Shropshire Page 9 Foray Reports Marasmius androsaceus, M. rotula and Paxillus involutus., but also some unusual Russulas, i.e. R. parazurea, R. graveolens, Saturday 24th April Severn Valley Country Park. Leader Roy R. violeipes and R. sororia. The star of Stoke Wood was Mantle. Amanita crocea found at the side of the path. On the way back to the car park Inonotus hispidus was fruiting on an ash tree On Spring forays you look forward to seeing certain species, near one of the stiles. and this foray ticked many of those boxes. The brilliant orange- red fruit bodies of the Scarlet Elf Cup are a feature of the park early in the year and a few turned up during the foray. Verpa Saturday 11th September Llynclys Common Nature Reserve. conica and Mitrophora semilibera were also found. Another Leader Harvey Morgan feature of the Park is Pachyella violaceonigra a dark cup fungus which favours waterlogged substrates. This had been found The path up to the common from the car park was steep but before by John Bingham in 1996 and is a very rare fungus. was also wooded and it was here that we found most fungi. Whilst most were common we did find Chlorociboria aeruginascens, Lactarius pyrogalus and Inocybe fraudans. L. pyrogalus is associated most often with hazel and has (as the name suggests) extremely hot milk. This is not a common fungus but 2010 seemed to be a good year for it as it was found in a number of locations. I. fraudans (= I. pyriodora) is said to smell of ripe pears! This one did smell fruity, but pears!! It was confirmed microscopically. Out on the grassy common we only found a few species but one was the lovely orange Hygrocybe intermedia On the way back to the cars we were shown a location where the unusual plant Herb Paris grows. In the afternoon we went over the road to Dolgoch Quarry, a strange place full of hills and gullies but in the main, well wooded. Here we found Lactarius deterrimus under what looked like small Christmas trees. Other notable species were Geastrum triplex, the very scaly Lepiota aspera, and Mycena Pachyella violaceonigra © John Bingham heamatopus, a small tufted fungus that “bleeds” red latex from the broken stems. Saturday 14th August Stoke Wood Leader Les Hughes. We started off from the car park at Geastrum triplex © Roy Mantle Stokesay Castle across fields to Sallow Coppice. From here we crossed another field to Stoke Wood. This was meant to be a morning foray followed by a pub lunch, however we found so much in Sallow coppice that it was lunch time before we reached Stoke Wood. Good things were being found and so it was decided to foray on and get a sandwich at the Discovery Centre later. Amanita crocea © Roy Mantle Sallow Coppice produced a wealth of common species such as 2 Sunday 26th September. Clee Hill. Leaders John and Denise The grassland provided some good Waxcaps such as Bingham. Hygrocybe coccinea, psittacina, russocoriacea and splendidissima as well as clavaria fragilis. Also found was the The season was very good for fungi and getting better all the biggest Cep I have ever seen. time and this area was good last year and so expectations were Considering the amount of advertising that went out the high. We made our way down a hedge row towards Cramer response was mediocre and most of the people had just come Gutter through an area of grassland, birch and oak. There were for a afternoon out. Despite the wealth of material and the a number of very large Boletus luridiformis (=B. erythropus) and amount of expertise available we did not recruit one new B. edulis both in the hedge and the field beyond. In the wetter member. We did split the entrance fee with the park and made places, growing in the sphagnum, was Hypholoma elongatum, a £14. fungus that I have seen only a couple of times before. There was quite a lot of dead gorse around and it did not take long to Sunday 17th October. Dudmaston. Leader Roy Mantle. find a fungus which is specific to this habitat, Daldinia fissa. This is very similar to Daldinia concentric (King Alfred’s Cakes) This annual autumn foray followed the usual pattern and the morning was spent in Comer Wood. Here we found a wonderful specimen of Otidea onotica and the uncommon Paxillus atromentosus. This can be quite a large fungus which grows at Daldinia fissa © Roy Mantle except that it is smaller and of course specific to this habitat. In the afternoon we crossed the road and walked across the Otidea onotica © Roy Mantle common where we found a number of Waxcaps but the most surprising find was Amanita ceciliae. It was young but was the base of stumps and has a black velvety stem. Also in the obviously going to be very large. This was a first for me. Another wood was Macrolepiota gracilenta, a lovely slender parasol and road was crossed and we eventually came to a wood which was a cousin Cystolepiota seminuda. mainly conifer but had some beech trees near the entrance and On the way to the Dingle in the afternoon Amanita phalloides at the base of one of the these was a nice specimen of Grifola was found in the grass amongst the birch trees. The highlight of frondosa. the Dingle was the beautiful Rhodotus palmatus. This fungus grows on elm hence it is quite uncommon now. The fruitbodies Sunday 2nd October. Severn Valley Country Park. A public are felty, gelatinous and wrinkled and pale apricot in colour. foray. Another unusual find was Pseudoclitocybe cyathiformis (The Goblet). Its upturned cap makes a cup shape which gives it its This event was organised jointly between the Country Park and common name. ourselves. We hoped that this may introduce some more members. The SFG pulled out all the stops and there was a Sunday 31st October. Whixall Moss. Leader Roy Mantle. magnificent display of labelled “live” fungi (provided by members), books and pictures. Members turned out in good In the morning we were taken round by Dr. Joan Daniels the numbers to assist, advise, and lead he public around the park. Senior Reserve Manager and we started in a wet area near to Two groups set out to different parts of the area and the finds the car park at Morris’s Bridge. This had very long wet grass were brought back at the end of the day for identification and and in amonst it were a number of spectacular fruitbodies of display. Volvariella gloiocephala, a large pink spored species. In the wet There was a wonderful array of Milk Caps in the birch scrub deciduous woodland around the moss was Leccinum variicolor including L. torminosus, L. pubescens, and the rare L. citriolens. which is very similar to L. scabrum except that when the stem is Hygrocybe coccinea © Roy Mantle 3 More pictures from the Public Foray at the Severn Valley Country Park The fact that only four people are shown does not mean that these are the only ones who took part. Many members helped to make the day go well. Thanks are due to them all for a splendid effort. Left is our display table at the start of the event. Members were still arriving with more specimens. Below Shirley, Cherry and Harvey are busy labelling the exhibits Bottom Cherry, Shirley, Harvey and Martin are finalising the display. Above Clavaria fragilis photographed by John Bingham. One of the many species found in the grassland in the park. 4 (continued on page 4) Some conifer associated fungi found in Wyre cut longitudinally blue colour develops at the base with pink Forest - Rhizopogon luteolus Fr. (Yellow False Truffle) nearer the top. These two fungi are often found growing and Rhizina undulata Fr. (Pine Firefungus) and together. We did venture onto the moss to look for more Auriscalpium vulgare, S. F. Gray. (Earpick Fungus). specialised fungi but only found Hypholoma elongatum growing John Bingham in the sphagnum. (This had also been found earlier in the season on the Clee Hill). Rhizopogon luteolus is an uncommon hypogeous (underground) In the afternoon we were left to our own devises in Bettisfield fungus associated with Scots pine and appears to be rare in the Moss. The area that we forayed was a wet woodland of birch forest. The fruit body is between 1.5–5cm across, ovate to and alder. Inonotus radiatus was found here but growing on globose, whitish at first then dirty ochre-yellow covered in tawny birch rather than the more usual alder. In an open mossy mycelial strands. It typically occurs in Scottish pine woods. clearing was the interesting Lichenomphalia umbellifera . As the name suggests this is a lichenised fungus and I have found a During the WFSG slug and fungus day on 30th October 2010 a specimen where the green dots of the algal partner have been number of R. luteolus were discovered under Scots pine at present around the base of the stem. This mossy clearing also Longdon Wood. They were falling victim to the lemon slug, a had Laccaria laccata growing amongst the moss. case of one rare species eating another, but there appeared to be a good colony of fungi and able to cope with the ravages of a few slugs.