Shropshire Fungus Group

NewsletterSPRING 2013 NUMBER 12

Amanita crocea © Roy Mantle

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ForayReports

Foray to Severn Valley Country Park 21 April 2012 Shropshire was officially in drought. March had been very dry but a week of April showers had soaked theground. Seven of us set out on a beautiful sunny morning hoping that the recent rains had been sufficient tobring forth hordes of fungi. As it turned out there were not exactly hordes but 23 species was a good tally.

The first find was the edible St George’s Mushroom Calocybegambosa so called because it fruits around St George’s Day, the 23rd

of April. As John remarked, “it was a couple of days early” but itwas near enough for us. We moved down and over the miners’ bridgewhere we found a few smallScarlet Elf Cups Sarcoscyphaaustriaca in an area where thewoodland had been clear felledand also in this area theThimble Morel Verpa conicawas found. This is anuncommon fungus but one thathad been found here before

down by the river under the hawthorn bushes.We followed the path up to the Country Park Halt on the Severn ValleyRailway and then turned down to the river. Coming back towards theVisitor Centre the sharp eyes of John and Denise spotted a few specimensof the Vinegar Cup Helvella acetabulum (formerly Paxina acetabulum)hiding amongst the dead leaves at the side of the path. Vinegar consistsof mainly acetic acid and the Romans called the vessel holding the vinegar

Sarcoscypha austriaca ©R. Mantle

Verpa conica © R. Mantle

Contents

1 Foray Reports

6 Beechwood Shuffle - Rob Rowe

7 A Brief History of the Fungus - Roy Mantle

10 Charlotte’s Gallery

11 Why Use a Microscope - Les Hughes

12 Reports from Microscope Day - Various

14 Images of the Beefsteak Fungus - Justin & Erin

15 Interesting Websites.

16 Pictures from Mike Middleton

17 Pictures from John Newnham

18 Fixture List for 2013

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an acetabulum and this name was also given to vesselsof a similar shape hence the name of this fungus.In the afternoon the rain came as we went across themeadows and down into Hallclose Coppice. Russellfound a couple of nice Mosaic Puffballs Lycoperdonutriformis (formerly Handkea utriformis) in the farmeadow and Kate found more Vinegar Cups Helvellaacetabulum at the side of the path on the way back tothe cars.

Dudmaston Foray Sunday 6th May 2012A small, but select group of us gathered at the usual place on the Dumaston Estate, six in all. We set off forthe morning session into Comer Wood, finding fungi few in numbers, but overall interesting in variety.The highlight of the morning however, has to be given to the swans on the pond, carrying their young on their

backs, in an attempt to provide the cutest wildlife photo of the year. Awinner so far.The new idea of bringing specimens back and setting them out fordiscussion was a limited success, as there were few of us, and few fungito look at. Nevertheless, it was worth doing, and we shall continue it,until Roy can no longer lift the trug.After lunch we visited three different ecosystems as we made our wayaround the lake to the dingle. The grassland around the lake offered agood few species, the best being Calocybe carnea, found by Judith, andStropharia coronilla, found by Martin, and both (smugly) identified byRoy. The dingle proved to be something of a disappointment, in view ofall the recent rain. As usual some species offered themselves repeatedly.Today it was Clitocybe fragrans which seemed to be everywhere. Therewas a Panaeolus in quantity also, sadly never identified.The other notable find

was Judith’s first ever St George’s, which seemed to disappearinto a convenient paper bag. They seem to be having a goodseason.In Comer Wood we found the slime mould Lycogala terrestre(Wolfs Milk) on a rotting tree trunk also some young Xylariapossibly X. polymorpha. See pictureThe full list of species found and identified is set out on thewebsite. As usual it was the brackets and resupinates whichoffered greatest resistance to identification. Nothing startlingappeared, although some things did seem to be showing earlierthan expected.

Helvella acetabulum © R. Mantle

Lycogala terrestre & Xylaria sp. © R. Mantle

Granville Country Park 2nd SeptemberBy this time some new members had joined and a fair number ofus forayed amongst the birch scrub now colonising the old spoilheaps. We found a reasonable number (18) of species includingthe Birch specialists Leccinum scabrum the Brown Birch Bolete,L. versipelle the Orange Birch Bolete and Paxillus involutus theBrown Rollrim. Also found on a burnt Gorse bush was Daldiniafissa. This is a close relative of D. concentrica King Alfred’sCakes/Cramp Balls which grows mainly on Ash. A nearby Birchtree had been scorched by the fire and also had D. fissa fruitingon it. The afternoon was spent foraying on the other side of the

Daldinia fissa © R. Mantle

© L. Hughes

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Haughmond Hill 22nd SeptemberMore new members had joined and 15 of us set out from the main car park to foray in mixed woodland on the

hill. Almost immediately we came across Pholiota gummosathe Sticky Scalycap. This is an occasional species which isusually found in debris at the sides of paths. Agaricus augustusThe Prince was also found at the side of the path. This is alarge and distinctive species which I am told is good to eat. Itdoes look too good to eat though. There were also someimpressive groups of Daedaleopsis confragosa the BlushingBracket on dead Goat Willow. Not so rare but equally attractivein their own way.We were alsotreated to a sniff ofaniseed fromClitocybe odora theAniseed Funnel. Wemoved venue in theafternoon to foray inAbbey Woods abouthalf a mile away.Here we found somew o n d e r f u lspecimens ofAmanita phalloidesthe Death Cap and

close by were some perfect fruitbodies of Amanita citrina the FalseDeathcap. Also in this area were some lovely pink specimens ofMycena rosea the Rosy Bonnet.

road amongst grassland and deciduous woodland. Pickings weresparse here but all was made good when we found a beautiful groupof Geastrum triplex the Collared Earthstar. There were a number offruitbodies in different stages. On a fencing rail was Gloeophyllumsepiarium the Conifer Mazegill; apparently the use of this type offencing has caused an increase in the population of this attractivelycoloured species. On the way back to the cars we found the lovelycoloured but bad smelling Tricholoma sulphureum the SulphurKnight. This fungus smells of coal gas.

Agaricus augustus © M. Middleton

Deadaleopsis confragosa

© M. Middleton

Mycena rosea © R. MantleAmanita phalloides© R. Mantle

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Corbet Wood 6th OctoberCorbet Wood is located at Grinshill, to the west of the A49 a few miles north of Shrewsbury. The area consistsof an old sandstone quarry which has revegetated back to nature. There are some mature stands of Scots Pine,semi-mature Beech plantings, mixed with areas of Willow/Oak/Sycamore and Holly species forming secondarywoodland.The weather on the day was sunny and fine. 4 members shared in an interesting foray.The morning session involved a short walk through mature pine trees,where we found Amanita citrina, smelling slightly of raw potatoes,and not far away was Scleroderma verrucosum, with its distinctiveribbed rooting base. We then dropped down the slope away from thefootpath to scan the woodland floor. What an amazing sight! – Wehad stumbled across a very large flush of Geastrum triplex (CollaredEarthstar) ranging from small unopened ‘eggs’ through to maturefully opened specimens about the size of tennis balls and all sizes inbetween. These were all associated with a single mature Holly tree.After standing in awe for a long while and taking photographs weambled on a little farther, only to stumble across about half a dozensmaller flushes, all growing under Holly!We returned to the cars at lunch time and continued foraying in adifferent part of the old quarry, accessed along an original sunkenpathway. Our afternoon was spent in a damper part of the wood. Wecame across Lentinellus cochleatus with its lovely aniseed smell.Conocybe arrhenia was growing along the side of a muddy pathway.This species of Conocybe has a ring on the stem which aidsidentification. Close by we also found Mycena pelianthina (similarto M. pura but with a dark edge to the gills) as well as M. rosea.39 species were recorded during our visit.

Dudmaston Estate 13th OctThis is a place which we usually foray each year and we followed the usual format of going into Comer Woodin the morning. Here we found plenty to delight us including Paxillus atromentosus (sadly no English namethat I am aware of but it does have a new scientific name Tapinella atromentosa). There was also a large andresplendent fruitbody of Dyer’s Mazegill Phaeolus schweinitzii. This is an interesting fungus that is a pathogenof conifers, causing brown rot in the roots and the base of the trunk. Brown rot occurs when the cellulose iseaten by the fungus leaving the lignin behind. Cellulose is the “glue” that holds the cells together and so thewood loses strength very quickly. The fungus can be used to produce dyes for dying wool. The colours rangefrom yellow through to dark brown depending on which part of the mushroom is used and which mordant is

put to it to bind it to the fibres.The conifers in Comer Wood arehaving a bad time as two morepathogens were found. A largemass of the Cauliflower FungusSparassis crispa was found andthe Root Rot FungusHeterobasidion annosum, both ofwhich attack conifer roots. Thelatter is responsible for majorlosses in conifer woods andplantations.We normally park by a smallcottage. When we went back forlunch we were told by a man in the

Amanita citrina © R. Mantle

Phaeolus schweinitzii © R. Mantle

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garden that he owned the land and that wecould not park there, and I had to talk verynicely to him to allow us to stay for theafternoon. Les had a word with Mike Annisthe estate’s head Warden and it turns out thatthe man in the garden was not the owner buthis son and that we are able to park there asusual in future. The owner, Stuart, would evenlike to come out with us.In the afternoon we walked down to the lakeand across the field. Here we found a range ofwoodland and grassland fungi. The highlightfor me, because I hadn’t seen it before, wasthe Firerug Inkcap Coprinellus domesticusgrowing on some fallen branches. It producesa mat of rusty coloured mycelium called anozonium, and whilst there was only a smallamount on the branch that it was on, otherbranches had plenty.

Coprinus domesticus © R. Mantle

C. domesticus ozonium © R. Mantle

Earl’s Hill 3rd NovemberThis was the first reserve acquired by the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and is anSSSI. Our, now quite large, group found quite a number of notable species. Avery large specimen of the Penny Bun Boletus edulis was found for us all toadmire; this is so often on the menu in posh restaurants that it is often calledby the French name the Cep. The Collared Earthstar Geastrum triplex is havinga good year as it has been found on a number of 2012 forays including thisone. A lichen covered fallen Ash tree provided two rarely recorded fungi whichare parasitic on lichens. The first one, Illosporiopsis christiansenii, appears astiny pink cushions amongst the lichen whilst the other, Xanthoriicola physciae,darkens the apothecia (little cups) of, usually, Xanthoria parietina. On the baseof a living Ash were an attractive group of Shaggy Scalycaps Pholiota

squarrosa all set up for a photoshoot.Higher up the hill, above the trees some waxcaps werefound, including the striking yellow Hygrocybeceracea. Squamanita paradoxa had been found a fewweeks earlier but all the specimens had been collectedand a trip to the location proved fruitless, but on theway we discovered Hapalopilus nidulans an unusualsmall soft bracket which turns the colour of blackberryjuice when spotted with KOH (potassium hydroxide).I was surprised to see Chlorophyllum olivieri on a listof Jo’s finds and when I asked her about it she explainedthat this is the new name for the Shaggy Parasol whichused to be Lepiota rhacodes then became Macrolepiotarhacodes then I thought it changed to Chlorophyllumrhacodes however it didn’t and it is now Chlorophyllum olivieri. Confused! I was but all we need to rememberis that Macrolepiota rhacodes is now Chlorophyllum olivieri.

Illosporiopsis chistiansenii © R. Mantle

Hygrocybe ceracea © R. Mantle

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Whitcliffe Common 1st DecemberThe morning was cold and wet at first but brighteningup later and we were treated to some spectacular viewsof Ludlow Castle. In the wet grass, our first find wasthe Dewdrop Mottlegill Panaeolus acuminatus (syn. P.rickenii). The English name comes from the fact thatdroplets of water collect on the stem. Those nearer thetop collect the dark spores and when they dry leavesmall dark dots. Once in the woodland two nicespecimens of the Yellow Brain Tremella mesentericawere found and further down the path the colourfulSilverleaf Fungus Chondrostereum purpureum wascollected from the trunk of a living sycamore tree. Adead pine was covered on the shady side by Serpulahimantioides with its distinctive brown colour and whiteedge. This is a close relative of the Dry Rot Fungus

Serpula lacrymans which seriously damages structural timbers in buildings. The original infestation starts inwood that has been wet for some time as the result of a leak or something similar. The mycelium travels over

any surface and can penetrate mortar and plaster.Usually this type of fungus material cannot operate inthe dry but in the case of Serpula lacrymans it transportsits own moisture drawn from the damp origin. Anotherjelly fungus turned up, Witches Butter, Exidiaglandulosa, which issoft and black. Sharpeyes also picked outJelly Babies Leotialubrica in the oaklitter

Chondrostereum purpureum picture © C. Anderson hand © C.Garnett

Serpula himantioides © R. Mantle Leotica lubrica © R. Mantle

BEECHWOOD SHUFFLE

My twin size 10s plough up the rich mould beneath the copper goldenleavesShuffling forward, Autumn’s gait.Scooping skyward I launch handfuls of earth’s aroma.I imagine bags of this wood’s dung dug into my garden then imagine morestrongly the effort required to get it there.The sun plays and dances on the decay and that’s O.K.Stumps and trunks, twigs and leaves,All slowly going the same way.Riding the carbon unicycle.The circling circus. the fungal festival.Do you belong to the mycorrhizal association?It’s a close knit community with ties worldwideRoots and branches for fun guys and galsAny one can joinBut beware the fungicidal lobbyA billion tiny death’s their hobby.Be bold mould, open the spore doorForm the mushroom cloud that gives life.

By Rob Rowe

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A Brief History of the Fungus (and the important changes that they made) compiled by Roy Mantle

This article started out as a brief look at the important effects of fungi in history but as I wrote and researchedthings grew a little out of hand! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Whilst there are no fossil records from this period it is believed that fungi and land plants appeared onEarth about 700 million years ago. (This was calculated using later fossil evidence to work out the rate ofmolecular change. This change is linear with time and so the line can be traced back to give a date.) This isonly a rough figure and there are estimates that they could have split off as a separate life form as early as 1500million years ago. They seem to have invaded the land as symbiotic partners of photosynthesising organismssuch as green algae. Fossil records of fungal fruit bodies are almost non-existent as they are soft and decayquickly and most fossils have come to light as more robust organism have been examined microscopicallyand the fungal hyphae have been seen. There are some records of fungal spores. These fossil records showthat fungi were living with plants during the Devonian period (400 million years ago) much as they do todayfeeding on the living plants or on their dead remains. Plants at this time were quite small, the largest being about a metre tall. As plants flourished they beganto increase the carbon dioxide levels and decrease the oxygen levels to such an extent the some mammals,particularly those living in water, were exterminated as they got insufficient oxygen to enable them to breath.Also the increase in carbon dioxide levels caused the temperature to rise making the Earth like a greenhouseand a perfect place for plant growth. The burgeoning plants evolved a new substance, lignin, to give themrigidity as they grew progressively bigger and bigger. As we enter the Carboniferous period huge plants suchas tree ferns were evolving growing ever bigger using the new strengthening substance lignin. Previous agentsof decay, microbes and fungi could not break down this new substance and so the giant plants fell and builtup an enormous layer of dead material. This was about 310 million years ago.This accumulation of plant material had a number of consequences. The layer of plants compressed down toform the coal measures which fuelled the industrial revolution in recent times. Also all the dead plants lockedup their carbon and thus carbon dioxide levels began to fall and oxygen levels rose to an all time high of 35%.As a comparison this level is presently 21%. Arthropods, insects, spiders etc. breathe by air diffusing into tiny tubes which reach all parts of their bodiesand so the distance that the air has to travel along these tube limits their size. However by increasing the oxygenlevel these creatures could grow bigger and centipedes three feet long, spiders with eighteen inch legs, andscorpions fifty pounds in weight were not uncommon.It was about 19 million years before the fungi evolved enzymes to breakdown the lignin. Once they had caughtup and were able to decay plants as they died oxygen levels began to fall (to about 15%) causing arthropodsto become smaller and animals to create new ways to use the much reduced supply. The ability to regulate thebody temperature gave the animals a way of using available oxygen more efficiently and so this stress gaveus warm blooded creatures. All this because the fungi lagged behind. In AD 54 the Roman emperor Claudius died suddenly at the age of 64. He had been married four timesand his wives were Plautia, Paetina, Messalina and Agrippina. It was well known that Agrippina was a schemingand devious woman who desperately wanted her son Nero to be emperor but Messalina’s son Brittanicus wasalso a contender and at the time was only a few months from gaining his majority which would give him anadvantage over Nero. After Claudius’s death rumour was rife and suspicion fell on Agrippina. It is widelyassumed that she put poison into a plate of mushrooms that Claudius ate and it was also thought that thepoisonous culprit was Amanita phalloides the Deathcap. Poisoning at that time was a favourite way of gettingrid of people that you disliked or got in the way and it was almost impossible to prove. Let’s look at what happens with Deathcap poisoning. Nothing occurs for 6-10 hours (or even longer) afteringestion. The first symptoms are stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhoea. These may continue for a day ortwo, after which there is typically an easing of symptoms and apparent recovery. The "recovery" period maylast for 2 or 3 days. Then the terminal phase of 3-5 days starts with the re-occurrence of stomach pains, vomitingand diarrhoea - accompanied by jaundice. The poisonous substances in the fungus attack the nucleus of ahuman cell which contains the DNA that is, in effect, the instruction book for the cell and tells it how to work.These deadly compounds within the Deathcap stop the cell reading its own instruction book and the cell dies.If enough cells in a human liver or kidney are affected and die, then there will be catastrophic liver or kidneyfailure - and then death.

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Now back to Claudius. Reports by witnesses say that death was rapid; within a few hours. This is obviouslyinconsistent with Deathcap poisoning. Some say he had diarrhoea and others said this was accompanied withvomiting. It may be that these reports were manipulated by various factions for political reasons to make themappear worse or better than they were. I have always wanted to believe that old Claudius was despatched witha Deathcap, but I think the jury is still out on this and we may never know the truth of the matter. As we come forward into medieval times another fungus makes its mark on history. There were manyaccounts of whole communities falling ill with very strange symptoms such as burning hands and feet,convulsions, fits, hallucinations and uncontrollable twitching. The head man and elders did not have any curebut to them it was plain that the people were bewitched. The witches were sought out and put on trial. Theywere often old women who lived alone and kept themselves to themselves, and if found guilty (and most were)they were burned or drowned. Much of Europe at this time existed on rye bread and the work done by Mary Matossian shows that mostwitchcraft trials occured where most rye is grown. For example in Ireland where the staple food was potatoes,only one witchcraft trial took place but East Anglia, where a great deal of rye was grown, had many witchhunts and trials. Also most trials took place after cold wet Springs. The most famous witch trial of all tookplace, not in Europe but in Salem in America. The founding fathers had taken rye seeds from England withthem to grow and give them their daily bread. In the early 1690s records show that this area suffered fromunusually cold wet Springs and by 1692 the whole area was in the grip of a witch hunt like no other. Hundredsof people were rounded up and imprisoned. From the resulting trials 20 of them were executed and many diedin prison of cold and hunger. The rest were released when the colony eventually admitted that the trials hadbeen a mistake. The evidence from Mary Matossian is persuavive but does have many critics. It was not until the 18th century that a possible culprit was found, Claviceps purpurea Ergot. This parasitizesthe flowers of many grasses and cereals (rye is particularly susceptible) and looks like tiny thin black sausagesamongst the seeds of the grass. These black “sausages” are about 12 or 15mm long by 2mm wide and are theresting stage (sclerotium) of the fungus. This sclerotium falls to the ground in the autumn where it overwinters.In the spring it produces little drumstick like fruitbodies which release sexual windborne spores Any that landon the stigma of a suitable grass produce a hyphal tube that invades the ovary and uses any food that wouldhave been used to swell the seed to produce fungal tissue. The fungus then produces a great number of asexualspores and a sweet substance which attracts insects to distribute them. In late summer the fungus goes into its

resting stage or sclerotium and the cycle iscomplete.These sclerotia were harvested with the ryeand ground into flour. Archaeological samples of grainand flour show high contamination by ergot.The symptoms and course of the disease known asergotism are well documented and there seems to havebeen two ways in which it progressed. The one wasgangrenous ergotism and this began by an intenseburning feeling in the hands and feet. A hospitaldedicated to St Anthony successfully cared for someof the afflicted and hence this manifestation becameknown a St Anthony’s fire. In the later stages death ispreceded by the withering and loss of fingers, toes andeven whole limbs. The other is convulsive ergotismwhich is characterised by muscular twitching (StVitus’s dance) and seizures similar to epilepsy. In the

later stages, sufferers experience formication, the sensation of ants running about beneath the skin, andhallucinations. One of the most important changes was brought about by Phytophthora infestans Potato Blight. Thiscompletely changed Ireland forever. A huge proportion of the population was dependent on the potato for foodbut between 1845 and 1852 the blight ruined the crop. Over one million people died and another millionemigrated reducing the population by some 20% to 25%. Ireland was not the only country to be affected; inall it caused some two million people to be displaced. The Potato Blight affected Europe and

Claviceps purpurea © C. Anderson

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America but because the people there were not so dependent on this single crop the affect was not so great asin Ireland. Also at this time there was trouble with the English and this was exacerbated by the way in whichthey dealt with the situation. The English landlords usually turned over the collection of rents to middle menas this ensured them of a steady income with virtually no effort and as the landlords often lived in Englandthis was seen as the best management plan. It was, however, the worst plan for the Irish peasants becausethese middlemen realized that by splitting the land up into ever smaller parcels they could make more moneyand cream some off for themselves. These tiny pieces of land were too small to grow cereals or raise livestockand the only crop that they could grow to feed their families was potatoes. They were so poor that theirdwellings were seldom a protection against the weather and a bed or a blanket was a rare luxury. After theGreat Potato Famine it was made illegal to further sub-divide land but this harsh treatment by the Englishlandlords finally lead to Irish independence. In more modern times we come to one of the most important accidents ever to take place. In 1928 AlexanderFleming was culturing a staphylococcus bacterium on an agar plate. Accidentally a blue green mould sporecontaminated the agar and began to grow. Fleming noticed that the area around the mould was free of thebacterium so the mould was inhibiting its growth. The contaminating agent was Penicillium notatum. In 1938a team was working on naturally produced antibiotics including penicillin. A member of this team Dr ErnestChain succeeded in producing a pure sample of penicillin from a sub-culture of the original mould and thework began to find ways of producing this in quantity and to do all the necessary trials to make it safe to useon humans. In the 1960s the increasing population was causing us to look at producing a substitute for protein to feedthe ever growing multitudes. It had to be quick to produce and it would need to be made in large quantities.We know that mushroom fruitbodies are good to eat but they are slow to produce and were at that time labourintensive. It was an insect that showed us the way. The Ambrosia Beetle bores holes in wood and takes withit a fungus. This fungus can digest cellulose and lignin which the beetle is unable to do and then it fills thetunnels with hyphal threads which the beetle and its larvae eat. It provides them with a rich source of protein.So we learnt that the fruitbody was not the only edible part. In 1967 a mould was collected from a field in Marlow in Buckinghamshire. This was a species of Fusarium,a mould which forms on food left too long but also the same mould that provides food for the Ambrosia Beetle.Could this also provide food for us? After much research a company was formed called Marlow food and theyhad developed a method of continuous production of fungal material which could be used by humans as asource of protein. They called this substance Quorn and it can be flavoured, textured and shaped to look likefish or meat. Sales of Quorn now rival those of cultivated mushrooms in Britain. At the present time we continue to fight a war against fungal diseases affecting our crops, our livestockand ourselves. On the other hand they are of enormous economic value. In 2005 74,000 tons of ediblemushrooms were grown in the British Isles worth an estimated £104 million. Quantities of Quorn are in asimilar league. Many drugs are now of fungal origin; the most common ones are the statins used to controlcholesterol levels in the blood. There is a fungus Tolypocladium inflatum that is being used to prevent organrejection in transplants. Many industrial processes depend upon fungi the most obvious being the productionof alcohol and bread but less obvious examples are the production of fizzy drinks, chocolate and coffee. But what of the future. Many more drugs will be found within the fungal kingdom and there are signs thatsome species of Ganoderma may be helpful in the treatment of some cancers. A new type of wound dressingwill be available made from a range of filamentous fungi. The filaments contain chitin and research has shownthat this substance can speed up the healing of wounds and encourages the production of fibroblasts. Fibroblastshelp build new tissue. This process has the potential to treat chronic ulcers and by speeding up healing theysave money, time and weeks of discomfort for patients. These are just a couple of examples of the work thatis being carried out on fungi and who really knows what will be found in the future.

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Charlotte’s Gallery (with a little help from Clive)

Mycologists!!! At Earl’s Hill

Amanita phalloides the Death Cap found in Abbey Woods Pleurotus dryinus Veiled Oyster at Earl’s Hill

Morchella esculenta Morels Basket from our Granville foray.

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Why use a microscope? Les HughesWhen we start out with an interest in mushrooms, we might issue those words most dreaded by mycologists,“Can you eat it?”. After a time however mushrooms turn into fungi, and as we spend more time looking aroundfor them in woodland and grassland it soon becomes clear that the big red one with the spots on is great whenyou start, but after you’ve seen it a few times it loses its novelty value, and you want to look for something abit more difficult to identify, a bit more challenging.Then, as you get to be able to have a good idea which genus what you see belongs to, you start wanting to findthings which are a bit more difficult to identify, which you have to think twice about, and which are oftenmuch less visually appealing.The next phase is when you realise it’s better to keep your mouth shut when you see something, because youare starting to realise that there are too many factors to be taken into account to be able to speak out in public,and offer an ID, because there are so many reasons why you might be wrong. It really is a pastime whichmakes you realise that the more you understand the less you know.After that there is only one thing to do. You launch yourself into a whole new world. You set out looking forbig clumps of brightly coloured mushrooms, but you find yourself being more and more intrigued by littlebrown jobs, and things that all look alike. This is when you realise that walking through the woods and thefields isn’t going to be enough. You are going to need to spend time indoors, learning a completely differentvocabulary, and looking at tiny aspects of what you’ve gathered, and then you know. You have to have amicroscope.Suddenly you are in a different world. You thought you’d developed a liking for the great outdoors, but in factyou are condemning yourself to a life looking down a tube. And the collecting basket, and knife you thoughtwere really trendy are supplemented by collecting pots, razor blades, microscope slides, and chemicals. Nothingis any longer too small or insignificant for you to want to get to know it better. Someone tells you that the bityou’ve carefully cut up to go under the scope is too big. If you can see it, it’s probably too much.How do you go about navigating this new world? My view is that if you set out looking for clamps, and smallvariations in the shape of microscopic structures like cystidia you will rapidly get frustrated, and may evengive up. So why not try some of the easier things first? These are a few photos I’ve taken using the microscope,but which give you an easy way of identifying a particular species. There are only a few, but I’d like to thinkeveryone reading this can come up with one or two more simple ways of nailing down a specific fungus withoutspending hours doing so. Have a look at these, and then come up with you own suggestions.Our website would be a good place to keep a folder of suggestions and photos which prove the point. Sendyour ideas to us at admin@shropshirefungusgroup.org, and we will set up a page devoted to easy identificationdown the microscope. You don’t need to supply a photo, although that would be great, but any tip about easingidentification can be included. Here are my photos:

The curly hairs on the external surface of Sarcoscypha austriacaPhysalids, the balloon cells in the cap cuticle of Clitocybe

phaeophthalmus

The dagger-like cystidia of Macrocystidia curcumis The harpoon shaped cystidia on Pluteus

Globose cells of the cap cuticle of Pluteus chrysophaeus Chrysocystidia in Stropharia cyanea

Microscope Day 9th June

This was held at the Secret Hills Discovery Centre in Craven Arms. The purpose of the meeting was todemonstrate the use of a microscope to identify fungi. Four people brought their equipment and samples tolook at. These were Ted Blackwell, Les Hughes, Harvey Morgan and Roy Mantle. Harvey and Les were doinglarger stuff whilst Ted was showing us some of his herbarium specimens of small fungi. Roy did a generalintroduction to the microscope for those people who did not have one. Techniques of preparing material to gounder the micro scope such as taking thin slices with razor blade, making “squashes” and looking at sporeswith the oil immersion lens. Harvey used his microscope to look at the gill edge cystidia of Pluteus cervinusthe Deer Fungus stained with Congo Red at 1000x magnification. This showed, well, the large hooked cystidiawhich give this fungus its common name. Ted is the most experienced with a microscope and he has writtenthe following.FULLER AND MORE FASCINATING MYCOLOGY WITH A MICROSCOPE TedBlackwellFor those who have come to grips with the Agarics and larger fungi and eventually think of extending theirskills to microscope techniques, Ted set out to emphasise that once you acquire a microscope, the door isthrown open to boundless entertainment.

A microscope offers limitless scope for exploration, not only of the microstructure of toadstools, but ofanother much wider and varied fascinating world of hoards of different microfungi. For mycologists wholike detective work and the challenge of solving puzzles, multitudes of small microfungi of endless varietybecome available for scanning under the microscope.

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There is no shortage, they are constantly abundant. They are not tied to the autumn and can be foundthroughout the year. Additionally, they occur on a large variety of living plants, on wood and deadvegetation, and even on insects. Unending interest can be had from the huge variety of shapes andstructures, colours and patterns of fruiting bodies and their spores, together with the often surprising andsometimes weird life-styles of certain groups. In all these, one could be spoilt for choice, because there are anumber of different groups to consider, each bringing scope for a special interest.

First to consider are the Ascomycetes, embracing the two major sections of Cup Fungi (Discomycetes), andFlask fungi (Pyrenomycetes); and in turn, the Conidial fungi, many of which are known to be imperfectstates of Ascomycetes.

For those who know their plants, there are interesting Ascomycetes that colonise or parasitise plants wherepart of the ID technique is knowing what the plant is. These include such as the Leaf Mildews(Erysiphales), often noticeable as a white mould on plants in summer, producing their spores in neat pill-like capsules bearing interestingly-shaped wavy appendages.

A related group are the Lichens, a composite organism of an Ascomycete in partnership with an alga orcyanobacterium, growing together and forming many characteristic shapes and colours, again, all-the-yearround fungi, to be sought not only on trees and plants but also on walls, rocks and churchyard gravestones.In turn, Lichens have other fungi parasitic on them, another group attracting a specialist interest.

Similar leaf-infecting fungi are the Rusts, (Uredinales) exhibiting a complex life-style in several stagesoften completed on different plants, and producing spores of different shapes. Also the rather less-complexplant-infecting Smuts.

For the more way-out adventurous specialists who prefer variety, Dung Fungi are a wide and fascinatinggroup, involving many taxonomic groups including Conidial fungi, Zygomycetes, Ascomycetes andBasidiomycetes. Of particular interest is the successive emergence of different groups, and aspects such asspecies occurring on ruminant dung differing from those on rabbit or hare pellets, and different again fromother animals such as mice, voles, or shrews. At a certain course on Dung Fungi, in addition to Britishmaterial, students were able to scan fungi on tiger and elephant dung, the professor having just returnedfrom Africa.

A group known as Ingoldian Fungi produce beautiful star-like, or spirally, or radially-shaped spores. Thesemay be better described as the ’Stream Foam and Wet-leaves Fungi’ because they are collected on soddenleaves from well-aerated babbling brooks and are often entrapped in foam at waterfalls.

Another group where beauty of form is the spur to seeking-out specimens, are the unkindly-named SlimeMoulds (Myxomycetes). Unkindly, because although their initial life-style phase is a plasmodial slime,their lasting beauty is in the mature stage that later develops into fruiting sporocarps, which, depending ongenus, have an architecture which is sometimes breathtaking in its delicate intricacy. Assembling otherinsects if examined and you know what you are looking for. These are known acollections of preservedspecimens is often favoured by Myxo enthusiasts.

A final word on a much neglected group where records and recorders are nationally few and the field is wideopen for new discoveries and records. These are fungi that grow on living insects without apparent harm,said to occur reliably on whirligig-beetles, but found on many s the Laboulbeniales, a sub-group of theAscomycetes. If you know your insects and arthropods, this world is your oyster.

Therefore, mycologists with microscopes are advantageously placed to advance the knowledge of a widerrange of fungi in the county. With the possible exception of the Cup Fungi, most of the above groups arevery under-recorded in Shropshire, and there are no records at all for Ingoldian Fungi or Laboulbeniales. Sothe scope is there, take up the challenge.

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The Beefsteak Fungus by Justin and Erin

These pictures show what a striking fungus this is when in its prime and the last two show beautifully that thetubes underneath are all separate and not bound together in a single mass like other polypores. Also from them,Fomes fomentarius I think. The Hoof fungus below.

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Websites as suggested at Group Leaders Meeting

Some you will find useful, others not quite your scene, but try them out and see:

Herbaria United http://herbariaunited.org/gridrefVC/ I use this routinely to check grid refs and vicecounties - I find it very helpful indeed. It is underpinned by the OS maps and very easy to use - even I cancope!

Have a go at the next one, try searching for Harry Potter’s Dragons via Google earth and see what you get!http://livingrecord.net/

Here's the Scottish Fungi link: https://sites.google.com/site/scottishfungi/ and I started to pull togethersome other useful links at https://sites.google.com/site/scottishfungi/useful-links

There are a couple of promising looking online photo albums out there at the moment:

1) A growing number of photos and microscopic images of a wide range of fungi from Mycologues Associes.. -I'm not sure what the full affiliation of these photos is, but perhaps they are associated with Sociétémycologique de France?http://picasaweb.google.com/108675098872555540610

2) Alina Billeken's Gallery: Some impressive images, especially of the wee fungi!http://picasaweb.google.com/101942005962929825215

www.aber.ac.uk/waxcapGareth Griffith's website on waxcaps with a wealth of information including an extensive list of downloadablereferences

http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliberA electronic library with scanned images from many mycological books, journals and catalogues.

www.mycobank.orgMycoBank is an on-line database documenting mycological nomenclatural novelties (new names and combinations)and associated data, for example descriptions and illustrations.www.entoloma.nlMachiel Noordeloos' personal site with information on the various groups of Agarics he has studied, includingkeys, downloads of recent articles, and links to other informative sites.

home.online.no/~araronse/mycenapage/mycenapage.htmlArne Aronsen's Mycena site with excellent descriptions, images and an online key.

Tom Volk’s Fungi http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/

http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/

There are also several websites, already listed on the BMS website, run by some of our local groups. Do visitthem as there is a wealth of information, experience and ideas within them. For instance check out the photosetc of slime moulds on Cotswold Fungus Group’s site www.cotswoldfungusgroup.com or go direct to:http://www.cotswoldfungusgroup.com/photogallery/general/fungal-diseases-of-plants/

Finally a great site for beginners with good photographs www.rogersmushrooms.com

I hope you find at least some of these links useful, if anyone has any further suggestions or I have not includedsome you have sent me already, (sorry), do please share them with us.

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Some pictures from Mike Middleton

Mike sent these pictures unnamed so these are what I think they are., starting top left and going clockwise.

A Bonnet Fungus Mycena sp. The Wood Blewit Lepista nuda. The Morel Morchella esculenta and an EyelashFungus Scutellinia sp.

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Pictures From John Newnham taken around Westhope at the end of August

These came un-named but I think the bottom left is Hygrocybe conica and the rest are Inonotus hispidus

Fixture List 2013

This is very much a draft list as some of the venues still need confirmation but put these dates in your Diary.I hope to have all the details sorted by the AGM.

13th April Old Rectory Wood. Leader Les Hughes

1st September. Wales. Leader Judith Jenkins.

14th September. Earnwood Copse Wyre. Leader Roy Mantle.

6th October. Lloyds Coppice. Leader Les Hughes

13th October. National Fungus Day at the Secret Hills Discovery Centre

20th October. Stiperstones. Leader Roy Mantle.

2nd November. Nesscliffe . Leader Harvey Morgan

14th November Benthall Edge Wood. Leader Les Hughes.

24th November Limekiln Wood. Leader Roy Mantle

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