Common fungi in Dene Park

 

Buttercap - note the woolly foot.

Clouded Funnel - surprisingly dramatically curled up when older!

Wood Blewit, Lepista nuda, lovely to see!

Stagshorn, Calocera viscosa 

Candlesnuff, Xylaria hypoxylon

Unknown Bonnet, Mycena

Snipe Wood with the Field Club

Concentrating first on the Boletes, 

Imleria badia, the Bay Bolete.

The first one we saw was the Bay Bolete, notable because of its often notably darker brown and matte to dry polished cap - not normally viscid and almost entirely under Pines as in Suillus bovinus, the lighter warmer brown of the Bovine Bolete. The cap is difficult to peel. 

A moderately sized medium-large Bolete, with a cap 5 - 15 cm across. The stipe is reddish-brown narrow vertical lines over the paler background, no reticulation except maybe at the apex, getting streakier as it gets older. Stripes can look surprisingly reddish. May be a pale to whitish zone at the apex and possibly the base, where there may be some whitish mycelium.

The pores are white to pale yellowish, yellow-green to olive when older, bruising a rather dull greyish blue, perhaps somewhat slowly. 

When cut you may get a bit of blue in the flesh and maybe a little bit of wine-red immediately under the cap. Or bluish in the cap flesh, slight reddish-brown in older specimens, not blue in the stem, from the images on the internet.  

Generally found under conifers or Beech in the South (maybe almost anything). However on occasion it can be a lighter much more orange brown, quite viscid when wet. Spores are olive-brown. 

A drop of ammonium hydroxide solution turns the cap cuticle a greenish to bluish colour. Application of ferrous sulphate solution causes the flesh to stain a dull bluish-green, while the pores turn golden brown with a drop of dilute potassium hydroxide

 

Xerocomellus pruinatus, the Matte Bolete, seems most likely - note the slight red edging around the brown "frosted" cap, and the red in the wound under the cap (not all agree on this), which most Xerocomellus species show, such as Xerocomellus cisalpinus (flesh blues up very strongly) and the Red Cracking Bolete, Xerocomellus chrysenteron (cap breaks up a lot). There is also Xerocomellus porosporus, (grey-yellow stem, very little red if any, stem blackens on cutting) Should have checked its tubes for a xerocomellid structure! Flesh should only turn slightly blue when bruised, if at all, but pores may bruise blue rapidly and strongly, especially on older specimens.

The cap colour is very variable indeed, many different browns to black. The stipe is notably strong - n.b. the Slate Bolete from Hever Castle. 

The pores, tubes, stipe and flesh tend to be a bright yellow, although the outside of the stipe reddens up, perhaps as the fruiting body gets older.  

Associated quite often with Beech.

Tricholomas.

The coal-gas one and the soapy one and the Birch one.

Tricholoma fulvum, The Birch Knight (although there is at least one whitish one as well), note the darker centre to the cap and the sulcate (ridged) edge to the Pileus.

Common and widespread. Should have yellow flesh in the stem, and it did of course. Mealy smell.

 

Beacon Wood with the Kent Field Club

The group found several individual fruiting bodies of the yellow Tricholoma associated with Aspen and maybe other Populus species, Tricholoma frondosae. Other trees have also been linked as ectomycorrhizal partners, but the group seemed to think the Aspen link was the most important. This also looks very like the Tricholoma equestre associated with Pines and other conifers, and they were thought to be just one joint species until 2001. Note the scales?

Phlebia tremellosa - note the spiky and often pale edge and perhaps just the start of the wiggly folds:

And here the spiky hairs are far more fully developed

Phlebia radiata, on Birch. Orange (not pale), unfringed edge helps to distinguish it

A fairly typical showing of old Datronia mollis or now Podofomes mollis. Should bruise brown and also cutting should show a dark line between the fungus and substrate. These are older fruiting bodies or patches, showing the now elongated maze-like pores in response to gravity. Note the small blackened decayed patch in the middle of the image!

This is one of the more identifiable Bonnets, Mycena pseudocorticola, the Steely Bonnet, not uncommon on moss-covered trees apparently.

This is a very large Mycena galericulata - see the cross-linking between the veins:

Ascocoryne sarcoides, s.l. inc cylichnium

Chlorociboria aeruginascens s.l. inc aeruginosa. Unusual on Birch I believe

Some areas of the park are covered in Cladonia, Reindeer Moss

List of Boletes

 

Boletus edulis - Cep - at Plodda Falls and 

Caloboletus radicans - Rooting Bolete - with Oak at Dene Park and Mote Park

Imleria badius - Bay Bolete - with Western Hemlock at Snipe Wood

Neoboletus praestigiator - at Dunorlan Park

Suillelus queletii - at Tudeley Woods

Tylopilus felleus - Bitter Bolete - at Ightham Mote 

Suillus bovinus - Bovine Bolete - with Pine at Plodda Falls and Tudeley Woods

Suillus collinitus - with Pine at Monkton reserve with KFC

Suillus grevillei - Larch Bolete - with Larch at Tomich and Snipe Wood with KFC

Xerocomus chrysonemus?

Hortiboletus rubellus - Ruby Bolete - near Oak at Dunorlan

Xerocomellus chrysenteron - Red Cracking Bolete - 

Xerocomellus pruinatus - Matte Bolete at Snipe Wood

Leccinum auriantiacum? - with Oak? at Tudeley Wood

Leccinum duriusculum - Hever Castle

Leccinum versipelle - with Birch at Tudeley? and Snipe Wood

Leccinum scabrum - with Birch at Tudeley and Snipe Woods 

Tunbridge Wells Cemetery

 

The Ugly Milkcap, Lactarius turpis or now Lactarius necator.  As far as I know this is the first time I have seen this, although I remain confused as I was previously connecting this term to Lactarius controversus.

There were a number of now dark brownish to black capped medium to very large milkcaps (to 15 cm or so) on the roots of one of the large Birch trees. The colour when younger should be a sort of olive. Maybe this was the one that Martin picked up? The trees here are certainly worth looking at for notable designation on the ATI. 

Lactarius turpis has been recorded a number of times on this site since 2005 so it is probably mycorrhizal on a number of the Birches around. Interesting that I only saw it on this one tree though!

The specimen in this photo was showing quite a lot of browning on the gills, so fits that character. The very black of the cap indicates the over-maturity of the fruiting bodies. Stem should be hollow, flesh brittle. I didn't taste much milk - a little old I thought, but it was extremely and persistently burning hot. KOH showed the violet very quickly and pleasingly. Its not what I would describe as Birch in "Wet" Woodland though, as described in UK books/websites, but I was glad to see not in FOTE.

This is the Birch Knight, Tricholoma fulvum. "Knights" are rather like "Shields" in someone's  imagination at least, with a central umbo, a bit rough but sticky when wet and as it ages with radial streaks around the edge. Bright(ish) yellow gills, unusual for a Knight which normally have white gills, with brown mottling on them as the cap ages. Stem yellow with brown fibres. Yellow fibrous stem flesh and gills contrasts with white cap flesh, maybe a floury smell when fresh cut. The species generally seems to like Birches on wet soil.

Following the theme of fungi associated with Birches, here is the Brown Birch Bolete, Leccinum scabrum, which I hope I am getting a bit more familiar with. It is a bit hammered, interestingly.

This is the other Bolete we saw, which MIGHT be the genuine Xerocomellus chrysenteron which is now thought to be mostly found under conifers - here these are found under Cedar and (I think) also Lawson Cypress from the debris. The other species recorded are cisalpinus and porosporus.

Moving on to the clubs and spindles, here is what I think should be the Yellow Club, Clavulinopsis helvola, which is a bit smaller and less clumpy than Golden Spindles, Clavulinopsis fusiformis.  Cylindrical unbranched, slightly clavate. Watch out for Clavulinopsis luteoalbis slightly more orange normally. 

There was a white club, probably Clavaria fragilis, in clumpier groups than some other clubs. There are several other options, less clumpy less trooping, with no clear dividing line between these species, although microscopy can help. Possible slight iodine scent..

So the third was just the one patch on one grave, Smoky Spindles, Clavaria fumosa, quite a bit bigger than the "clubs". This seems to be a reasonably reliable identification, as far as I can tell, with its distinctive colour (this can vary a bit) and concolourous flesh, no odour or taste and browned off tips. It is usually cylindrical and unflattened, unridged.

The cemetery was waxcap heaven.  

This was the first one I thought I understood, the Scarlet Waxcap, Hygrocybe coccinea, with its perhaps slight yellowish edge. It is not as big or chunky as the Crimson Waxcap, Hygrocybe punicea, which we found later, with a red to orange-yellow stem, especially in the lower half. Stem cylindric but often compressed, matt to silky with fragile flesh. Common and widespread.

Some Waxcaps at Hengoed Isa

Nice to see some waxcaps on the garden lawn, here is the first, unknown fungus at least as far as I can tell,

Parrot Waxcaps, Hygrocybe psittacina, varying amount of green,  

Slimy Waxcap, Gliophorus irrigatus, looking good

Ivory Bonnet, Atheniella (Mycena) flavoalba possibly.