Tea Pot Fungus

[Ditiola]

I knew that header would make you curious


Many years ago I went on holiday for two weeks and on my return I was dismayed to find that I had not emptied my tea-pot before going on holiday and floating on the remaining liquid was two floating tea bags covered with mould. This was mostly the common green mould which I think was a species of penicilium, there was some pin mould and a blackish fungus looking different from anything I had seen before, so I put it under the microscope. It had unusual spiral shaped septate conidia spores, so I made careful measurements and drawings and filed the data away for a few years.

When a few years latter I happed to meet up with our very own micro-fungi wizard Chris Yeates I produced the drawings from which he recognised the genus straight away. From what I recall; apparently it was a fungus normally found in Ceylon and my tea-pot was only the third British record.

There must have been an air pocket that kept the spores of the boiling water, giving them a sterile environment to grow on when the tea cooled down. I have thought about trying sprinkling tea on agar plates to see what grows.


Chris
Having diligently kept the data for many years I now seem to have mislaid it. Can you remember what this fungus was?


Peter

[fairplay]

Just bumping this back to the top for you Peter. (I want to know too) !

Neil.

[solus]

Originally Posted by Ditiola

From what I recall; apparently it was a fungus normally found in Ceylon and my tea-pot was only the third British record.

I use Yorkshire Tea - now I'm sure Chris would be interested in any fungus that grew!!

(I also want to know what was in your neglected tea-pot! )