Pond fungus?

[cervinae]

Now this one surprised me. In our garden we have a section known as the Bog Garden where we encourage bog plants and frogs and what not. I've not been paying much attention to it as the vegetable patch takes what daylight hours I can spare. Anyway, on monday I was giving the pond a quick glance and thought the girlfriend had been putting more pebbles into the section the frogs clamber in and out of and saw this (I'm wondering if the frogs brought the spores or the wind)



I looked closer and then thought it some type of fungus and picked one of the fruit bodies. It was firmly attatched to something beneath the water (pebbles and pond muck I believe) but gave way to my twisting (I should have got my knife I know). I'd actually expected the "classical" mushroom shape but what actually came up was some kind of pestle shaped puffball type thing.





It was remarkably firm but seemed crumbly at the same time. Only about 3cm in length but then I'm wondering if these are quite young. Will have another look this weekend when I'm back in Gateshead to see if they've grown.

Could this be a group of puffballs or is there a bog fungus that looks like this?

Regards, David

[NickCantle]

Could be a group of Lycoperdon pyriforme?

[cervinae]

I can see the resemblance but from what I've read I hope not. We have two trees beside the pond, a grafted willow sank into the ground in it's pot and an 18 foot alder with free roots. I've read that L. Pyriforme grows rotting logs and dead roots so I'm wondering if the alder has broken through into the pond. I'll have to examine precisely what they're growing from this weekend.

Thankyou for the response, David

[cervinae]

And here comes the big face-palm (there should be a smily for that). When I talked with the girlfriend about the probability of this being L. pyriforme and how they only grow from dead wood she reminded me that the entire bog garden had a load of wood chippings dug into it... it's amazing what you forget.

Thing is, the little fellows are popping up all over the the bog garden and it's a beautiful sight Here's the chaps from last week looking more robust



Regards, David