Olive Oyster, Sarcomyxa serotina

 

On the wonderful felled Beech I was so pleased to find the Olive Oyster, Sarcomyxa serotina, which some think of as regularly found, but others regard as uncommon in the UK, There are a few records for Kent and for Wales, so not really worth making too much of a fuss about, but definitely a new one for my own life list.

The etymology is Sarco = flesh, myxa = slime, and finally serotina = late, as in appearing late in the year.

Gilled one sided basidiocarps 1 - 4 inches across, with a very short stipe, often tightly packed, and perhaps distorted in shape as a result. Almost invariably on fallen deciduous trees, such as oak, birch and beech. The cap starts off green or an an olive colour with greenish tints, the underside pale cream or tan with perhaps eventual yellowing as the spores develop and start to be released.  The gills are relatively quite crowded, and the flesh feels distinctly and very obviously rubbery. The cap is finely velvety at first, then smooth, and usually slimy when wet. It usually contains some hint of the greenish or olive colours it is named after. At a later stage I think the fruiting bodies tend towards various browns, and then an overall tan colouration, and the colours are generally variable and rather inconsistent, so not always providing a reliable identification. 

One major distinguishing feature of Sarcomyxa, the Olive Oysterling (it is thought there is only the one species currently found in the UK), as opposed to Panellus the true "Oyster" mushrooms genus, is a relative clear distinction between where the gills stop and the stem surface, an arrangement described perhaps as adnate. In Panellus by contrast the gills tend to run on down the short stem or stipe, sometimes called a nub, in a decurrent fashion. 

This is an image of some fresh Olive Oysters from the Beech tree, very like the usual "classic" depiction of them, although not the basidiocarps that I saw first in the tree. You can see here how they get their name, and quite how attractive they look - in their own way of course. 

These were actually the first basidiocarps that I saw - well past their best, but rather more visible at a distance than the fresh ones, probably largely because their brighter colours contrast so clearly with their substrates and the surroundings.

I twisted one of these fruiting bodies around to show the gilled underside:

And here is a view of some other fruiting bodies at an earlier, intermediate stage I think, with the two uppersides showing some nice colour variation. Note the clear yellow spore-staining on the underside of the other fruiting body near the stipe, quite characteristic of the species.

  

Variable Oysterling in its widest sense, Crepidotus variabilis, s.l.

 

Typically on a relatively small twig, microscopy needed to tie the species down any further.

Possibly Trechispora mollusca on fallen Spruce at Glocaenog Forest

 

This is a bit of a guess, its simply the limited number of whitish poroid resupinates on this host species, as well as the appearance of the pores, which superficially resemble some of the online images of older crusts that I have seen. 

Trichaptum abietinum, the purplepore bracket, on a spruce log.

At Bod Petryal, Glocaenog Forest, Denbighshire. On a fallen conifer trunk, presumed to be Spruce, were a series of small thin caps, running along the trunk in loose tiers which turned out to be, almost certainly, Trichaptum abietinum. On closer examination the purple colours on the underside and edges of the caps were quite obvious, so on Spruce this is a very probable outcome. There are two other species of Trichaptum on conifers, but both are so rare in the UK that I am therefore discounting them, although T. fuscoviolaceum would be the next most likely. 

This is a very common saprophyte on fallen timber and stumps. The purple tends to fade as the annual brackets age, leaving the light brown as the dominant colour of the caps. Some caps appear more whitish above, most likely due to age and condition. At the same time the pores tend to become jagged and toothlike, rather breaking up, and this is the more normal condition. In the images below the lower tiers of brackets show most purple tinging, which seems to be associated with the pale edging visible.

The caps are slightly fuzzy above, and algae do tend to accumulate there near the base where the fuzziness tends to be most obvious, as seen below.

The colour of the cut branch stub on the right is unexplained.

Skeletocutis amorpha, on Pine, sometimes known as the Rusty Crust

 

At Bod Petryal, Glocaenog Forest. 

I was very pleased to find this attractive semi-pileate fungus on a large felled Pine trunk to the south of the small lake. The tubes are pinkish, but they end in white pores. There are orange tinges as well, especially on the underside and in the flesh. This all points to Skeletocutis amorpha, a target of mine to find. There are surprisingly few records of it in Europe, including in the UK.

Steccherinum ochraceum at Dene Park

 I think this is one of my favourite crusts, Steccherinum ochraceum, with its crowds of blunt(ish) "spikes" up to 1 mm or so tall on its quite distinctive salmon-coloured surface. These particular fruiting bodies appeared more brightly coloured than I have seen them before, so I couldn't resist posting. The initially obvious patch margins appear to start off beautifully white and fluffy but I think soon change to a discoloured slightly rind-like surface as they roll up away from the surface. The fruiting bodies can be easily separated from the wood substrate beneath, leaving little sign of the presumed mycelial structures beneath. I just sacrificed one small patch to test this, as it's said to be not that common, especially beyond our southeast corner of England. Multiple fruiting bodies along one small fallen oak branch, on my local PAWS site near Tonbridge today.

The Jelly Tooth or Jelly Tongue, Pseudohydnum gelationosum, at Hemsted Forest

 

What a great day with Kent Field Club at Hemsted Forest.

I have borrowed Phil Ambler's photos for this post, as mine were rubbish - I hope he doesn't mind! Notice the "flesh colour" (seen once it matures) and the very rubbery nature of the cap.

The Jelly Tongue is shaped a bit like a  bracket and belongs to the Exidiacea. The description of this family from the Collins' photographic guide follows:

"members of the family Exidiaceae are gelatinous or jelly fungi in varied irregular shapes and rather dull colours. They are generally associated with dead wood, both standing and fallen. Some are host specific. Like most jelly fungi, they are generally only conspicuous in wet weather and when dry, shrivel to a hard thin membrane. They rehydrate rapidly, revive and swell to resume growth and spore production. Accordingly they can be found at any time of year. The spore colour is white.!