Tony Hardware's Fungi Finds

Monday, 5 April 2021

MARCH 2021 - uncommon and rare species around my new home - Stroud. Looking forward to the Cotswolds.

I recently moved to SW Stroud in Gloucestershire and to my delight found more footpaths nearby than I ever had access to in Cornwall. My first stroll found a delightful Willow Carr area in a location called The Heavens, which will be my local patch for sure. If the name has anything to do with it then it could well be where its name originated from. Mid-March and found my first agaric of the year in Agrocybe praecox. Everything points to this except I couldn't see any ring developing on the stem but also understand this species is out there for the experts to decide if this is more than one species. I would suggest so, maybe variant. One or two resupinates were interesting finds at Miserden Park, during a delightful walk on a glorious spring sunny day. First was Phlebia lilascens, as the name suggests with a raised 'bubbly' smooth surface, with short margins found on a Scots Pine branch. Mystery leptocystidia appeared occasionally so added as a 'likely' only as perhaps again a possible close species unknown to me. The other was a cob-webby type whitish fungus on Fagus in Athelia bombacina, which has the habit of spores pairing with each other, as was the case here. One of my first strolls nearby into The Heavens allowed me to find a very unusual but beautiful resupinate, something you can't say very often. This turned out to be Ceripora triumphalis (was spissa) with a bright orange/yellow surface, no clamps and significantly turning instant purple in KOH. Small spores then claimed this one, which became only 3rd in UK recorded with certainty. Three uncommon ascomycetes species were recorded also, all found in and around the Willow Carr area in Bowbridge. First was Niptera melatephra found at the base of Juncus inflexus and 3rd record for Gloucs., another Nitschkia species this year with N. confertula, which looked more like a sooty mould when first seen. 1st for Gloucs. since 1978. Odd as must be more common, perhaps neglected for the look-a-like mould species I mentioned. Almost in the same place a Rossellinia nearly went by without checking, but did and as this was on Ivy could be easily seen as R. mammiformis. A very good start for my new homestead and fungi habitat. Stroud Cemetery looks good, not for me later but for the ancient woodland and mixed Victorian type trees around this peaceful setting. Just up the road, so good for fungi - or, you never know - the other thing ....

Agrocybe praecox pleurocystidia

Agrocybe praecox spores

Agrocybe praecox

Athelia bombacina

Athelia bombacina spores

Ceriporia triumphalis spores

Ceriporia triumphalis

Niptera melatephra asci

Niptera melatephra ascospores

Niptera melatephra

Nitschkia confertula ascospores

Nitschkia confertula

Phlebia lilascens

Phlebia lilascens spores

Rossellinia mammiformis on Hedera

Monday, 1 March 2021

February 2021 - uncommon/rare species found and all during lockdown locally.

February continued to be a productive month, with quite a few rare species being identified, mostly ascomycetes of course at this time of the year. The highlight was finding three new species for Cornwall under one tree - a Salix caprea or Goat Willow. The key find was Berlesiella nigerrima which overlaid another hidden Cryptospaeria ligniota (1st for UK!!! also). These were confirmed by Dr Paul Cannon at Kew, the latter found by him, probably one of the few that could!. Also found here was a Myxomycete Arcyria minuta, a pale salmon coloured body with large one-sided cogs on the capillitium. Lastly, and a fourth species also found and still rare find, so maybe will look harder under this type of tree in future. This was a asco. that looked like a small black cup fungus at first in dry form and within 30mins back home and hydrated was turned into something completely different. This is the aptly named Nitschkia collapsa which as the name suggests collapses in the centre when dry (see pics below). A short trip for the first time to Newhall Mill allowed me to find not only a beautiful Woodland Trust new location but also Arachnopiziza aurelia close to a stream. Also here was Lachnum apalum on Juncus. A walk around nearby Coronation Park found a tiered state of Ischoderma benzoninum as well as under and on Scots Pine the unusual asco. Cistella acuum. Another short walk around the block, I found a twig emerging from a garden and noticed the tiny white studying at home turned into a Cyphelloid Lachnella alboviolascens which was difficult to ID, but Peter Smith (BMS) gave helpful advice here. At the one small area left of Shell Woods, I found Mollisia ligni. So a very fruitful month, even in the middle of winter and lockdown!

Arachnopiziza aurelia

Arachnopiziza aurelia spores

Arcyria minuta

Berlesiella nigerrima spores

Berlesiella nigerrima

Cistella acuum asci

Cistella acuum

Cryptospaeria ligniota (bottom left)

Ischoderma benzonium

Ischoderma benzonium spores

Lachnella alboviolascens

Lachnella alboviolascens hairs

Lachnum apalum

Mollisia ligni spores

Mollisia ligni

Nitschkia collapsa

Nitschkia collapsa spores

Nitschkia collapsa before and after!!

Tuesday, 9 February 2021

Rare, Uncommon or New to UK!! Doesn't get much better than this. Oh, and a new species to science?

January proved to be a very successful month for finding all types of fungi, also one that was recorded on 20th Dec 2020 is reported here, as confirmation of a new species FOR THE UK takes time!!

Starting here, on a short walk pre-lockdown before Christmas on a footpath near Sladesbridge, just down the road from me, I spotted a couple of white looking agarics which at first I thought were crepidotus. I hadn't seen much except icicles forming inside my gloves so thought I had better check before calling it a day. Three weeks later I had my first Basidiomycetes new to the UK namely Mycena supina. Thanks to Alick Henrici of the Brit. Mycological Soc. who confirmed the species.

On a later trip to confirm the location of the above species, I also found the delightful hairy ascomycete Lasiobelonium variegatum. A trip to another local woodland at Bishop's Wood gained three species all of which were significant finds. I had decided to target the Spruce at the entrance to the woodland and just focus there. This paid off and I think I checked every good looking rotting branch in the wood. One small ascomycete I found in Anthostomella tomicoides on rubus proved to be my second record of this rare species and the same for Cornwall. On the same branch and centimetres away from each other, I found an Obilia type and Stactis type ascomycetes. Both proved difficult to identify, the first I thought was O. occinella, but when checking with Otto Baral's monograph on Oribiliomycetes I found this has been found only a few times on the Pacific Rim! He describes this species in Europe as O. eucalypti and this was confirmed by him direct to me later. So most authors and book wrongly depict this incorrectly as far as I am concerned as Otto is THE person for Orbilia and has named countless new species to science. Close to this was a Stactis type, but checking at home after microscopy proved to be inconclusive. Certainly not one of the recognised species known to me. Paul Cannon of Kew kindly checked this for me and after checking decided this was a probably new species to science and created a log of the species on Fungi of GB and Ireland for verification later. It wasn't a Stactis after all but it's close cousin Schizoxylon. Thinking of going somewhere different for a change, I went to a local reservoir where a spruce small woodland was deteriorating fast under a marshy grassy habitat. This led to finding a pale grey thin resupinate which I felt was worth checking under the scope, as usual. This turned into a Tubulicrinis species, with another Tubulicrinis within the same material!! Rare species anyway, but two in one. Amazing. After careful microscopy and checking once again with Alick Henrici these were identified as T. glebulosus and T. accedens. The latter a 1st for Cornwall and the former a 2nd for Cornwall after ... AlickH, found at The Lizard years before!