While idling life away in an Art Cafe in the City of Truro, as you do, I was sitting next to a bamboo bush, which became Phyllostachys aurea, or Golden Bamboo and taking a sample of an old stem showing an ascomycete which then studied at home recognising an Arthrinium species. These aren't easy to ID, especially when so little is known about them, especially new to science. Checking with what to me is the best authority in Europe on this species - Angel Pintos and referring to his paper based on six new species of Arthrinium in Europe, I matched this as A. hysterinum in its conidia or asexual state. This was confirmed and is now recorded as such with the Brit. Myc. Soc. That's four species of Arthrinium I have now recorded, most not recognised in the UK, but surely this is due to lack of people looking at this 'grass' species. During a quick trip up to Wales, NW in fact to stay at the lovely area around Porthmadog. I checked constantly for crazy hounds but never saw one, well not in the canine sense. While dropping into the only local nature reserve at Gwaith Pewdwr, close to Cardigan Bay, I found a couple of species of fungi only, both gems and one Cortinarius flexipes var. flabellus as 1st record for Wales, hiding under Betula. The second was a tiny asco containing 100's of tiny hairy ball shaped fungi, which became Merismodes fasciculata. 2nd Welsh record!! Not bad for 30 mins while my wife read the paper in the car park, as she is so not interested in fungi. When home, I decided to check out an old cut down Silver Fir nearby in Sladesbridge, as this seemed to show good signs of producing interesting ascos. Not to be, other than finding Bisporella sulfurina, where if not in Cornwall would have been rare. But, I did find a very uninteresting cottony resupinate but chose to take a sample and test it as it looking new to me and on a single conifer in the middle of a broad-leaved wood suggested oddity. It produced amazingly small spores at 4.0 - 4.95µm x 2.50µm and with all other aspects of the fungi taking into consideration this could only be Leptosporomyces mutabilis, 1st for SW England! So the finds went on, ending in a graveyard at Endodoc Church, as most things do, with a late Spring Brittlestem or Psathyrella spadiceogrisea, in Hawkes Wood finding an unusual Crepidotus calolepis (or C. mollis var. calolepis) juries out to which. This has a brown speckled netlike maze on the cap, only few seen in Cornwall, along with a nice red bruising Stereum rugosum on a trunk of Corylus. So a great end to the summer, and now the season is just starting!! It is always exciting to find, exam and finally achieve species status with fungi and I have only been doing this for three years, 18mths with a microscope, having enormous fun. You need the right ref books and a few good mycolgist friends to guide you on the way. People with this interest are generally very helpful. So I encourage anyone reading this (you might be the second!) to get started and stick with the difficult first six months when you think it's all too much. It comes quick enough and there are many helpful mycologist and professional scientists around willing to help.
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Arthrinium hysterinum in asexual state
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Arthrinium hysterinum
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Arthrinium
hysterinum on Bamboo |
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Cortinarius flexipes var. flabellus
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Cortinarius flexipes var. flabellus
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Cortinarius flexipes var. flabellus
spores
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Crepidotus calolepis
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Crepidotus calolepis spores
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Leptospromyces mutabilis
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Leptospromyces mutabilis
spores
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Merismodes fasciculata spores
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Merismodes fasciculata
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Merismodes fasciculata hairs paras
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Psathyrella spadiceogrisea spores
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Psathyrella spadiceogrisea
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| Stereum rugosum staining red |
