joint YNU/MYFG/WAB autumn foray

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

Would have liked to come on this one but was away in the Outer Hebrides at the time - maybe next time.

There will be more in the future. So maybe see you then!

Melanie

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

Would have liked to come on this one but was away in the Outer Hebrides at the time - maybe next time.

We're planning to have a spring one as well - let me have the dates you could manage and we might just be able to work round them for you!

C

[Chris Yeates]

what foray would be complete without the genus Laccaria deceiving a few experienced - and not so experienced - mycologists?

on the Hades day (when else?) there was much discussion - Laccaria laccata was at its most variable (I was swearing blind that a rather delicate mycenoid toadstool with a strongly striate cap, numerous rather narrow gills and rather slender stems was an Entoloma of sorts - despite mutterings to the contrary which were borne out when I checked the spores - it was indeed The Deceiver)

there was - at one end of the range of different fruitbodies, however, a strongly fibrous-stemmed, scaly capped, strongly coloured Laccaria which we were sure was Laccaria proxima:


and when I checked the spore print tonight that was confirmed - broadly ellipsoid spores - the globose-looking ones are almost all being viewed end-on:


however, there was an extensive group of very short-stemmed Laccaria with very irregular caps, distorted stems and very few, thick gills:


superficially these looked rather like Laccaria tortilis, but the habitat - an open acidic area of cleared conifers with grass and much woody debris was 'wrong' - L. tortilis in my experience tends to occur in damp hollows in mature woodland often with Salix and Alnus; fortunately under the microscope it is easy to identify - it has 2-spored basidia with relatively large very spiny globose spores
under the miscoscope it was immediately obvious that something was happening here - all the gills of all the specimens collected were being attacked by a 'hyphomycete' mould - Calcarisporium arbuscula - sorry no pix - it's tiny and a devil to get a decent photographable view of it as in water the spores spread far and wide

so two species for the price of one (it was just L. laccata - but also a reminder of what a minefield mycology can be

cheers

Chris

[Chris Yeates]

one of the joys of a foray can be when youngsters come along and get into the swing of things, learn how to collect carefully etc

on the Stoneycliffe Wood day a family of self-proclaimed 'beginners' with two sons came along and the boys were very excited when they told me they had found a red truffle (I didn't say a lot), but when I saw the material it was clear that in a very real sense they had:


this is Paurocotylis pila - described by Rev. Miles Berkeley in 1855 from material from New Zealand; it was unknown in the northern hemisphere until it was recorded from Britain in 1973; it is not common:
NBN Gateway: Paurocotylis pila grid map
but has actually been recorded from this wood before - though what the chances of happening upon it are in a large wood one can only surmise - they weren't looking in a 'known' spot

here is a small one in section - around 1cm. diameter:


showing the internal convolutions so often found in the different groups of "truffles"

and here the ascospores:


which were between 18 and 21 µm in diameter; because they are released early and not shot out like regular ascomycetes do (the fungus is probably a distant Peziza relative) I don't think that Berkeley himself knew which fungus group he was dealing with

on the same day a hypogeous fungus specialist with us found the basidio-truffle Hymenogaster niveus (a bolete relative - though you'd never guess it!) which has only a handful of British records (all hers!)

more interesting finds from this foray to follow - as the records are coming in from the participants, the list, while not super-long is very impressive

cheers

Chris

[solus]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

more interesting finds from this foray to follow - cheers

Chris

This is getting more and more like a soap opera. I can't wait for the next episode!

Actually, it's a whole lot more interesting than a soap opera...

[FungiJohn]

I have a record for Paurocotylis pila just inside Yorkshire (Mosboro) for you too Chris



John

PS I must also add that I have seen this at Clumber but wrongly assumed it was the contents of someone's discarded sandwich

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

I have a record for Paurocotylis pila just inside Yorkshire (Mosboro) for you too Chris



John

PS I must also add that I have seen this at Clumber but wrongly assumed it was the contents of someone's discarded sandwich

Another one?! Nice one John!

I remember that last time, you thought it was an old tomato