2008 Fungi Highlights

[cybershot]

As we look ahead with our aspirations for 2009 what was it about 2008 that you will most remember?

For me last year started off on a cold February day in Minley with a notable Red Data List find in the company of JP and Nick Cantle: The latter's young eagle eyes spotted Arrehnenia chlorocyanea - Verdigris Navel amongst the polytrichum moss. Together with carpets of Sarcoscypha austriaca - Scarlet Elfcup and an amazing flush of Fomitopsis pinicola - Red Banded Polypore, there were many other first finds recorded throughout the year when in cahoots with the Minley Mushketeers. No doubt JP will long remember the look on both Nick's and my face when he guided us to our first sighting of a truly magnificent specimen of Laetiporus sulphureus - Chicken of the Woods in Bowdown Wood, near Newbury. But for me the highlight was on a solo outing in October when, in close proximity to an Earth Fan, I stumbled across Phellondon niger - Black Tooth, a species on the BAP list.



Cheers

David

[NickCantle]

Well David, contending highlights are;

Finding Arrhenia chlorocyanea whilst on an outing with J.P and yourself (and Shrooms!).

Seeing J.P's Chicken Of The Woods at Bowdown and the slippery walk back to the cars through the Bluebell filled wood.

Finding my own Laetiporus sulphureus on a nearby Beech tree.

An outing with David and Sally to my old haunt, Alice Holt Forest and seeing lots of decent species including Pseudocraterellus undulatus, Leotia lubrica, Cortinarius sanguineus and about a kilogram of Cantharellus tubaeformis (of which 600g are dried nicely and are sitting on the worktop next to me).

Above that though, was the discovery of Phaolepiota aurea which I had seen in books many times, but never thought I would find;



Nick

[KeenTeen17]

My first year of proper mycology has given me what I only discovered recently as being on the red data list:
podoscypha multizonata

Neotiella nutilans - on the Sefton dunes

A walk in my local woods provided me with good samples of kretschmaria deusta

A stump on my local park provided Ganoderma pfeifferi mistaken for H. nutilans at first.
A garden close to college showed russula fragilis


and my favourite of the year

hypholoma marginoatum

[CapAndBracket]

It sure was a good year, and i remember all the wonderful finds along with
good company, now to do it all again this year but better.

Cheers J.P.

[leifus]

hmmm i 't find anything rare but my favourite would have to be Hygrocybe coccinea lol

[Lancashire Lad]

Well for me it has to be everything!

Prior to autumn 2008, I hadn't given fungi more than a passing glance, and had probably only ever registered seeing about half a dozen different types.

Now, a few months later, I've seen and identified (or had identified for me) about 100 species, bought Jordan, Phillips and several other books (including Andreas's Blacks Nature Guide ), and have amassed a good number of photographs, including a few that I'm reasonably satisfied with.

And, thanks to the help from several people on this forum, my initial and very casual interest (because the wild flowers were becoming less plentiful in autumn), is now growing.

Everything that I've found has been common, but it has been new to me, and each find has given me just a tiny bit more information towards what now has most probably become a lifelong pastime.

Regards
Mike.

[Deer Stalker]

Hericium erinaceus......



...& Hydnellum spongiosipes.

[mollisia]

Hallo,

in my area of eastern Germany it was in the lowlands north of the Thüringer Wald mountains the worst year anyone ever can think of. After the morels in Mai, which were rich in species and locations, but poor in individuals, it never rained more then 3 mm/day until beginning of october!
But in the Thüringer Wald mountains things were a bit better, and on my favourite waxcap meadow (26 species up to now!) and the surrounding forest it was the year of strange parasites. So for me the two highlights last season were Rhodocybe stangliana parasiting on Lyophyllum inolens and Squamanita contortipes parasiting on Galerina pumila.

Rhodocybe stangliana is not known to Britain up to know acc. to the checklist. But i persume, that it is overlooked, because it ressembles a lot of other fungi that grow together with it: Ripartites metrodii, Clitocybe phyllophila agg. and even Agaricus semotus/dulcidulus. It grows in acid spruce forest in somewhat richer places (with Oxalis acetosella) in the needle bed and is a parasite on Lyophyllum inolens and perhaps also L. rancidum. You can see on the second foto the bulb at the stems base, which are the remnants of the Lyophyllum this bulb starts turning grey after several minutes. So, if you have spruce forests with Lyophyllum inolens, take a good look at every small whitish fungus, especially when it has a faint rose hue. If you turn it and see the distant and thick gills with the rose touch, then you have t dig a little bit to find the bulb.

First picture shows Rhodocybe stangliana and one fruitbody of Lyophyllum inolens on the left side growing densly together:


Second picture shows two fruitbodies originating from the same bulb:


Squamanita contortipes is said to be extinct in Britain since 1957 (one and only collection). I found it twice now at the same spot. It is parasitic on Galerina pumila, which is the most common Galerina in my favourite waxcap meadow. The Galerina is found their in thousands, as the meadows are several hectar in size. The Squamanita is very tiniy (o,5-1 cm diam.) and very hard to see. So I can only encourage you to have a look in similar places: extensive meadows on acid or calcareous soil ("waxcap meadows") where Galerina pumila is abundant. The Squamanita can also parasite other Galerina species.



best regards,
Andreas

[NickCantle]

Wow Andreas, how fascinating! I always dreamed of finding something as amazing as a Squamanita, and when I started reading Karl Soop's web-site, I found out that Squamanita paradoxa parasites Cystoderma amianthinum. One to look out for, though I'm not sure of the British distribution

[mollisia]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Wow Andreas, how fascinating! I always dreamed of finding something as amazing as a Squamanita, and when I started reading Karl Soop's web-site, I found out that Squamanita paradoxa parasites Cystoderma amianthinum. One to look out for, though I'm not sure of the British distribution

Hallo Nick,

yes, I was so upset when I found not only one of these Squamanitas, but two on one excursion! (Rhodocybe stangliana was a former Squamanita, therefor two ...)
Squamanita paradoxa is a thing I'm still looking for and in the Top Ten of my list of wishes. No problem to find legions of Cystoderma - but I never came across the Squamanita yet.
For Britain you can search in the checklist: BasidiomycotaChecklist - Home
If you look for Squamanita paradoxa, you have six findings up to now: Basidiomycota Checklist-Online - Species Page

best regards,
Andreas