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Looking for Irene — 1971
33 Reproduced by kind permission from Newsletter of Warwickshire Fungus Survey (Newafs) 6. p.2. (see also p. 14 of this Bulletin)
LOOKING FOR IRENE - 1971 M.C. Clark
In British Ascomycetes, Dr. Dennis says of the species Irene calostroma: "Reported once, on Rubus idaeus (Raspberry) in County Kerry. It is desirable that the species be searched for again in the west of Ireland and in south-west England". t Early in 1971 the news was circulated that this species had been found to be common all over southern Ireland and then in West Wales. After learning details of the particular type of habitat where the finds had been made, Dr. Dennis brought to mind a similar place in E. Sussex and on going there duly found it at once; he afterwards found it in a similar place elsewhere. The sort of habitat can, apparently, be defined very precisely. Most of the finds, including those by Dr. Dennis, were in woodland, on steep slopes facing east. It is parasitic on Brambles and it may be that it is restricted to certain kinds of this variable plant which themselves favour this sort of site. Dr. Dennis described the bramble on which he found it as a rather downy-leaved variety. A search was made in a few woods in Warwickshire (including Whichford Wood) which seemed to provide these conditions, but without success. However during late February I was visiting west Gloucs. and came across a rather sheltered damp little valley on a steep slope facing east. The soil hereabouts is of a sandy, rather basic nature and the valley had many brambles under a light canopy of Ash. This struck me as the sort of place and I immediately found some of the fungus. Having seen what it looked like in the field I soon found it to be abundant. Dr. Dennis says that it is quite conspicuous and when one knows what to look for perhaps it is. It appears as small black patches near the base of living stems of the bramble. It actually consists of a lacy pattern of radiating, darkbrown mycelial threads bearing alternate capitate hyphopodia. However the detailed structure is so fine that it can barely be distinguished with a x I0 hand lens. The details can be made out, and it is in fact very beautiful, under the binocular microscope at the highest power. When it is mature there are a number of black globose ascocarps at the centre of the radiating hyphae and these are very rough with a tuberculate surface and a few longer stout appendages. A visit to Devon at Easter produced plenty of this species in woods overlooking the Salcombe estuary and elsewhere. Then, just after Easter, a Warwickshire locality was at last found. This was on the Whichford Wood foray. Although I had already sought this fungus there I had missed the right spot - a rather damp and sheltered little corner of the wood, again with an easterly aspect but by no means steeply sloping. There were a lot of brambles under a thin canopy of trees and Irene calostroma was there in abundance. In spite of its small size it is surprising that such an apparently widespread fungus has escaped notice. Incidentally, its name has now been changed to Appendiculella calostroma (Desm.) von Hohn oooooO()OOOOOoooooo
BMS member Stanley Porter, inspired by the appearance of Roy Watling's students on foray at Kindrogan, coined the delightfully appropriate collective noun - a "meander" of mycologists.
t
[Irene is illustrated by Dennis.]
LOOKING FOR IRENE - 1971 M.C. Clark
In British Ascomycetes, Dr. Dennis says of the species Irene calostroma: "Reported once, on Rubus idaeus (Raspberry) in County Kerry. It is desirable that the species be searched for again in the west of Ireland and in south-west England". t Early in 1971 the news was circulated that this species had been found to be common all over southern Ireland and then in West Wales. After learning details of the particular type of habitat where the finds had been made, Dr. Dennis brought to mind a similar place in E. Sussex and on going there duly found it at once; he afterwards found it in a similar place elsewhere. The sort of habitat can, apparently, be defined very precisely. Most of the finds, including those by Dr. Dennis, were in woodland, on steep slopes facing east. It is parasitic on Brambles and it may be that it is restricted to certain kinds of this variable plant which themselves favour this sort of site. Dr. Dennis described the bramble on which he found it as a rather downy-leaved variety. A search was made in a few woods in Warwickshire (including Whichford Wood) which seemed to provide these conditions, but without success. However during late February I was visiting west Gloucs. and came across a rather sheltered damp little valley on a steep slope facing east. The soil hereabouts is of a sandy, rather basic nature and the valley had many brambles under a light canopy of Ash. This struck me as the sort of place and I immediately found some of the fungus. Having seen what it looked like in the field I soon found it to be abundant. Dr. Dennis says that it is quite conspicuous and when one knows what to look for perhaps it is. It appears as small black patches near the base of living stems of the bramble. It actually consists of a lacy pattern of radiating, darkbrown mycelial threads bearing alternate capitate hyphopodia. However the detailed structure is so fine that it can barely be distinguished with a x I0 hand lens. The details can be made out, and it is in fact very beautiful, under the binocular microscope at the highest power. When it is mature there are a number of black globose ascocarps at the centre of the radiating hyphae and these are very rough with a tuberculate surface and a few longer stout appendages. A visit to Devon at Easter produced plenty of this species in woods overlooking the Salcombe estuary and elsewhere. Then, just after Easter, a Warwickshire locality was at last found. This was on the Whichford Wood foray. Although I had already sought this fungus there I had missed the right spot - a rather damp and sheltered little corner of the wood, again with an easterly aspect but by no means steeply sloping. There were a lot of brambles under a thin canopy of trees and Irene calostroma was there in abundance. In spite of its small size it is surprising that such an apparently widespread fungus has escaped notice. Incidentally, its name has now been changed to Appendiculella calostroma (Desm.) von Hohn oooooO()OOOOOoooooo
BMS member Stanley Porter, inspired by the appearance of Roy Watling's students on foray at Kindrogan, coined the delightfully appropriate collective noun - a "meander" of mycologists.
t
[Irene is illustrated by Dennis.]