Tony Hardware's Fungi Finds: August 2024

Well this month carried on from last month with many unusual species being found, many from cultured Horse and Rabbit dung, another pastime I enjoy! A resupinate found at Cirencester Park was Tubulicrinis subulatus, showing Lyocystidia with encrusted and smooth tips. 3rd for Gloucs, but I got in the way as have this two times recorded already! Under Picea abies Phlebiella fibrillosa was identified, with elliptical ornamented spores, the genus now called Xenasmatella by some authorities in Europe. 1st Gloucs and most of mid-England. A nice find only, as it is fairly common, was a large The Prince, Agaricus augustus found at Siccaridge Woods. Onto Coprophilous fungi. With patience all manner of species can be grown using this substrate. This time I was able to identify Saccobolus citrinus but in immature state only, which appears to be 1st Gloucs. Another popped up as Saccobolus depauperatus and a third as Saccobolus truncatus, the latter being the rarest as just two other records showing at FRDBI. With these species you need to measure the spore clusters as well as individual spores, sometimes they just stay stuck together! A few basidios appeared as Coprinopsis radiata and 3rd Gloucs record, Coprinus sellatus, a delightfully small species with a star like cap, with a 7/8 leaved surface. This was 11th in UK/1st Gloucs. Not finished yet, a tiny Coprinus species grew and in some abundance and on careful checking of the cap, spores etc turned out as Coprinus pusillulus but now transferred and lumped with C. hepthemerus var. pervisporus. Just a few records in UK, mostly from Norfolk. I can probably guess who they are. This was off Fallow Deer and Rabbit later as well. In Cirencester Park I was about to give up seeing any basidios that I thought I should check a known grass cutting mound in the forest. Just one species was protruding nicely which proved to be Panaeolus cinctulus. Few other records in Gloucs, but nice find here at this time of the year. At Merchants' Downs woods growing within a dead resupinate on Acer I found a minute asco with setae forming hairy clusters just visible to the eye. I only found these when checking the resupinate. This would be Dictyotrichiella pulcherrima. Delightful. Lastly, to round off the month I found and identified two unusual resupinates, the first Sistotremastrum suecicum with 6-spored basidia - 5th UK record. I wasn't 100% on this so entered this as a likely. The other was even better with finding Peniophorella tsugae on Picea branch at Maitlands Woods near Edge. This shows some cylindrical cystidia with resin 'blobs' at the tips. The ovoid spores also helped identify this species as 11th in UK/1st Gloucs. Added were tiny hyphomycetes Endophragmia elliptica and Narcissea ephemeroides although until recently known as Coprinus cordispora.