The fungus that got away

[FungiJohn]

Hello all

How often do you go out on a foray only to find yourself short of time and still more to look at. The day just seems to fly by.

I still find it slightly amusing that most organised forays only last a couple of hours. Hardly time to get the eye in and search out interesting species ... why such a short time for something so enjoyable, I can never work this one out

Anyway back to the title of the thread

Les and I re-visited Lound hoping to find the Squamanita odorata which Les had found the year before but didn't realise it's importance, resulting it being collected well past it's sell by date! If we had got a good sample last year it would no doubt have been a first for the UK rather than just classified as a Squamanita species.

Lound, like Clumber and Longshaw was teeming with fungi at this very unusual and 'strange time' of year and we were running out of light to see what we were finding. This last find by 'Eagle eyed' Les was merely photographed quickly, ID'd as probably an immature Crepidotus epibryus, camera's packed and off we shot to the car. Of course the specimen was just left in situ and forgot about

Back home on the pc with the day's 10 Gb of images, many stacks to process and containers of fungi for the microscope I attempt to prioritise the workload, after all it was only 2 days before the next foray!

Browsing the images for the first 'quick' edit I reach the very small fungus on a leaf found by Les. On the large screen it looked very interesting and I knew I had done it again. I had probably ignored the best find of the day and with no hope of collecting at a later date

Here is the fungus. Interesting isn't it.



John

PS I should point out the size was a good 1 mm dia.

[FungiJohn]

Well Les and I thought it was interesting

Anyone wish to have a guess at the ID

John

[fairplay]

Mouldy chewing gum John ?
I'm off to bed now, have to be in London in the morning for a lecture at Kew re: Fungal interactions with animals. Anyone else going ?

Neil.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Well Les and I thought it was interesting

Anyone wish to have a guess at the ID

John

some of us don't do guesses, John

I would say this is not a 'discomycete' but one of the reduced agarics, perhaps Flagelloscypha or a near relative - interesting that one can make out 'ghosts' of gills - has it developed further? - ah - I've just spotted it wasn't collected . . . .

of course microscopy would solve the asco/basidio question

when you say "I still find it slightly amusing that most organised forays only last a couple of hours. Hardly time to get the eye in and search out interesting species" I think you have hit the nail on the head though I disagree with your conclusions

In the last few weeks I have found my share of 'interesting' fungi - including agarics - and many of them within a quarter of an hour's walk from home; an hour or at most two is easily enough time in the field imho - but you then need a lot of time 'back at the lab' to work out what you have found - there are very few 'interesting' species which can be recognised at a glance, I think; and you're a lucky lad no longer having to turn in for a week's work . . . . I have been assured that retirement doesn't seem to give you the extra time you have expected though . . . . ?

I have learned over the years to be selective with what I collect in the field and to simply stop when I have enough to look at at home (which nearly always turns out to be too much)

looking for interesting fungi and a nice stroll in the country are not the same thing - this is one advantage of the plant parasites: you can do most of those in the field so you can have a good long summer walk and cover quite an extensive area while also doing some serious recording

In his preface to British Ascomycetes Dennis writes: "One of our most successful collectors of Helotiales makes a practice of spreading a macintosh in an attractive-looking ditch, lying upon it and not stirring further for an hour or more while he methodically scrutinises every piece of vegetable debris within reach." - he was clearly referring to Douglas Graddon. It used to be a standing joke on BMS forays that the late Malcolm Clark would rarely make it further than about 30 yards from the car park

but guess who found the 'interesting' species

cheers

Chris

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

some of us don't do guesses, John

I would say this is not a 'discomycete' but one of the reduced agarics, perhaps Flagelloscypha or a near relative - interesting that one can make out 'ghosts' of gills - has it developed further? - ah - I've just spotted it wasn't collected . . . .

of course microscopy would solve the asco/basidio question

when you say "I still find it slightly amusing that most organised forays only last a couple of hours. Hardly time to get the eye in and search out interesting species" I think you have hit the nail on the head though I disagree with your conclusions

In the last few weeks I have found my share of 'interesting' fungi - including agarics - and many of them within a quarter of an hour's walk from home; an hour or at most two is easily enough time in the field imho - but you then need a lot of time 'back at the lab' to work out what you have found - there are very few 'interesting' species which can be recognised at a glance, I think; and you're a lucky lad no longer having to turn in for a week's work . . . . I have been assured that retirement doesn't seem to give you the extra time you have expected though . . . . ?

I have learned over the years to be selective with what I collect in the field and to simply stop when I have enough to look at at home (which nearly always turns out to be too much)

looking for interesting fungi and a nice stroll in the country are not the same thing - this is one advantage of the plant parasites: you can do most of those in the field so you can have a good long summer walk and cover quite an extensive area while also doing some serious recording

In his preface to British Ascomycetes Dennis writes: "One of our most successful collectors of Helotiales makes a practice of spreading a macintosh in an attractive-looking ditch, lying upon it and not stirring further for an hour or more while he methodically scrutinises every piece of vegetable debris within reach." - he was clearly referring to Douglas Graddon. It used to be a standing joke on BMS forays that the late Malcolm Clark would rarely make it further than about 30 yards from the car park

but guess who found the 'interesting' species

cheers

Chris

I did mean an 'educated' guess Chris

I well remember my first foray and thinking after the 2 hours ... What next! ...but then I wasn't going back with the collected samples and spending hours keying out and doing the microscopy.

I agree there are many to be had on your doorstep but I can only blame Les for taking me to places like Lound, Tresswell and Sherwood, and of course out of Yorkshire!

'Lucky Lad'! I can't believe how I had the time to work. I obviously used my 1 hour lunch break well

Interesting you mention the 'Dennis' preface Chris. I well remember Mariko at Seckar wood. She sat down and didn't move more than a couple of yards throughout the foray but she collected throughout in a very small area!

No doubt too she had the most interesting species!!


John