Tony Hardware's Fungi Finds: May 2023

"He who looketh, findeth". Maybe Shakespeare, maybe not, but it always works for me. Why watch repeats of The Repair Shop or afternoon cooking classes when you can be walking through a pristine forest full of trees that talk to you in a very special language in silence.

Following on from some amazing Winter/Spring fungi finds this month proved no different with 2-new to UK species, 3 - in first 10 records for UK and 7 - new records for Gloucestershire. And I have never set foot in the Forest of Dean ... YET! First up as in alpha order is Cistella grevillei, a few records already in Gloucs. and one that I'm sure is fairly common and found on Nettles and Hogweed, if you look closely. Being under 0.2mm, mostly smaller then it's easy to miss. Imagine if this was 5 cm's across then what a gorgeous asco this would look like. See pic. For the second time this year I tried damp culturing for fungi within dung, this time on Fallow Deer. Found in Cirencester Park, where a small herd exists, an unusual ascomycete grew after seven days with a bright orange apothecia and odd 'bubbles' cells associated with the margin and small stem. After careful research and checking Persoonia Vol 17, Part 4, p645 - 656 this keyed down to Coprotus arduennensis, new for UK as far as I can see as not even listed. Perhaps the deer were imported from France! I also tested this for Wild Boar but this wasn't the case. During a pleasant walk with the Gloucs. Nat. Soc. along the River Frome near Stroud (a favourite hunting ground) and while staring at the ground whilst eating sandwiches (as you do!) I picked up what appeared to be a rotten nettle stem but understood afterwards this became a Ranunculus repens runner. Here, at home, I discovered two species on the same strand. First, and nearly new for Gloucs. was Cocicreas starbaeckii as well as the 0.2mm Spilopodia ranunculi, new for Gloucs. At Bull Bank, Nr. Sapperton, a lovely natural grasslands site I found under Pinus sylvestris Hamatocanthoscypha laricionis, only the third record in UK. Small hairs, VB's in paraphyses and small spores etc. Back to Capel's Mill at the start of the walk above, on a Virburnum twig, I found a lovely mature arrangement of Lachnella alboviolascens, the basidio that looks like an ascomycete. Nearby, on one of my favourite woodchip dumps we found Peziza micropus (common) but also a Morchello look-a-like. We all thought this was a morel, but when at home this turned into a basidio also! Amazing, a new species for the world or a sun-baked very dead and frazzled Lepista nuda. It was the latter. See the photo and what would you have thought!? A delightful small black myxomycete showed on Corylus called Paradiacheopsis microcarpa, again new for Gloucs and only seven other UK records. They should have gone to Specsavers. Back to the Fallow Deer, this time on a new 'set' and showed after just four days a tiny Parasola 'cuniculorum' as now identified. Most findings of this Parasola is this species and not the many records showing P. misera. The latter has 4-spored basidia, the former two and is far more common. Crawling under a Buxus bush at Cirencester Park I found a restricted resupinate which turned into Peniophora proxima, new to Gloucs or first since 1965!! Back at the River Frome but on my own this time, on an Ash twig I found Peroneutypa scoparia, with small parts of the perithecia protruding vertically. Another gem found this time at Stratford Park in Stroud under Pinus sylvestris became Phaeohelotium rufescens thanks to a consultation with the very experienced Hans-Otto Baral (Germany) who suggested this species but will be new to the UK if recognised. Interestingly the asci sometimes proved difficult to show amyloidity and several attempts on different sections proved this to be positive. VB's, spore size, extremely sessile, almost flat but with a single dot attachment to the substrate underneath. While popping out to a ancient church at Amprey Crucis (old roman name) under a Prunus laurocerasus bush I found Phanerochaete tuberculata growing. New for Gloucs./West Midlands. Back up to Bull Banks, and on the way down the grassy banks near a brook coming from one of the countless springs in Gloucs. was a delightful mushroom that at this time of the year is always wise to check. This turned into Pholiotina aporos - just one other record in Gloucs. I'll keep going, as so much was found! At the River Frome walk I identified Pyrenopeziza plicata (new for Gloucs.) on Angelica as well as P. atrata on Hogweed stems. A new species for Gloucs was a resupinate found at Cirencester Park came out as Resinicium furfuraceum found on Abies alba. I nearly discarded this as R. bicolor which have many starburst astrocystidia. This didn't, after reflection, and ended up 1st for Gloucs and only seven other UK records. I nearly had a new species for Gloucs. had it not been for an old acquaintance of mine living in Cornwall!! Ken Preston-mafham is a prolific recorder from there and was my previous dwelling place, and here he was in 1976 pinching me again!! This was the lovely Oysterling type but hairy Resupinatus trichotis. An unknown Zygomycete sps. was recorded on the Fallow Deer dung showing a curved nail-like yellow growth pattern. Odd. Remains a mystery for now. If you are exhausted reading all this remember I had to write it all.