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Phew! but it's never too hot to go foraying
Field Mycology Volume 4(4), October 2003
PHEW! BUT ITʼS NEVER TOO HOT TO GO FORAYING Ted Brown c/o The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey TW9 3AE
S
unday August 10th 2003 will go down in history as the hottest day yet recorded in Britain, with the temperature exceeding 100ºF at Heathrow just a few miles away, though as I embarked on a Sunday morning foray this was far from my thoughts. What was that about mad dogs and Englishmen? My site was a well-known National Trust property, Claremont Landscape Gardens at Esher, a commuter town known principally as the home of Sandown Park Racecourse, and of Brian Spooner’s Esher Common Fungus list, which exceeds any other for an area of comparable size. Expecting to see little more that the odd rust, I was suddenly astonished by a striking display of Laetiporus sulphureus in its full glory. As I stepped back from this giant beech trunk, a relic of the 1990 storm, I half trod on a red Russula, whose gills and stipe turned - after being knocked by my green welly - from a creamy aspect to the colour of mustard. It transpired there was enough material to make a decent collection, the tiniest of which was entirely deep yellow. This was my first experience of Russula luteotacta, and the yellowing process was almost immediate rather than a delayed reaction. [It is often apparent only overnight -acccelerated by the heat in this instance? Ed.] Then to a detailed examination of the always interesting and extensive compost heaps. These first revealed a further British outdoor record of Gymnopilus dilepis (see FM3(1), 2002, back cover), dirty yellowish-white when young, then maturing into a plum colour (like Tricholomopsis rutilans) and finally ginger as it became enveloped in its own spores. And just feet away a large fruiting of Leucoagaricus americanus, better known as L. bresadolae, in its various colour stages from purple bud, expanding to white scaly “Lepiota”, to withered reddening and claret death throes. Furthermore on the next heap a cluster of some 20 fruit bodies of Leucoagaricus meleagris, described by Sowerby in 1798 from Lady Arden’s hot-bed, but rarely
recorded since. Mature specimens exhibited a hint of lemon deep in the gills. Both of these Leucoagaricus species are described fully in Flora Agaricina Neerlandica (FAN) volume 5. All these remarkable fungi were seen in pristine condition on what turned out to be an historic day. When I returned two days later they had withered away or in the case of the Russulas succumbed to the mower, though my return was made worthwhile with a sighting of the rarely recorded Volvariella volvacea, distinguished in the field by a grey-brown volva and usually growing in clusters (see photo p.139). It should be noted that there had been no significant rainfall in the previous fortnight. The following week (still without rain), 1 discovered a further collection of Agaricus rufotegulis from the site of the first UK record in 1997 (see Fungal Portrait p.111). I am indebted to Geoffrey Kibby, Brian Spooner, Alick Henrici and Nick Legon for confirming my identifications; and also to the Geoffrey Kibby for photographing the collections for the BMS.
1 cm
Russula luteotacta with its intense yellow stains after bruising. Photograph © Geoffrey Kibby.
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Field Mycology Volume 4(4), October 2003
1 cm
Leucoagaricus americanus (= L. bresadolae). Note the orange stains developing on the stem of the specimen on the right and the overall pink or reddish flush on mature fruitbodies. Photograph © Geoffrey Kibby.
1 cm
Leucoagaricus meleagris, a rare species confined in Europe to greenhouses or to thick layers of compost, sawdust or woodchips. It rapidly stains first yellow then reddish-orange as seen here on the gills of the upturned cap and the cross-sections on the right. Caps reach about 6cm in diameter. Photograph © Geoffrey Kibby.
119
PHEW! BUT ITʼS NEVER TOO HOT TO GO FORAYING Ted Brown c/o The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey TW9 3AE
S
unday August 10th 2003 will go down in history as the hottest day yet recorded in Britain, with the temperature exceeding 100ºF at Heathrow just a few miles away, though as I embarked on a Sunday morning foray this was far from my thoughts. What was that about mad dogs and Englishmen? My site was a well-known National Trust property, Claremont Landscape Gardens at Esher, a commuter town known principally as the home of Sandown Park Racecourse, and of Brian Spooner’s Esher Common Fungus list, which exceeds any other for an area of comparable size. Expecting to see little more that the odd rust, I was suddenly astonished by a striking display of Laetiporus sulphureus in its full glory. As I stepped back from this giant beech trunk, a relic of the 1990 storm, I half trod on a red Russula, whose gills and stipe turned - after being knocked by my green welly - from a creamy aspect to the colour of mustard. It transpired there was enough material to make a decent collection, the tiniest of which was entirely deep yellow. This was my first experience of Russula luteotacta, and the yellowing process was almost immediate rather than a delayed reaction. [It is often apparent only overnight -acccelerated by the heat in this instance? Ed.] Then to a detailed examination of the always interesting and extensive compost heaps. These first revealed a further British outdoor record of Gymnopilus dilepis (see FM3(1), 2002, back cover), dirty yellowish-white when young, then maturing into a plum colour (like Tricholomopsis rutilans) and finally ginger as it became enveloped in its own spores. And just feet away a large fruiting of Leucoagaricus americanus, better known as L. bresadolae, in its various colour stages from purple bud, expanding to white scaly “Lepiota”, to withered reddening and claret death throes. Furthermore on the next heap a cluster of some 20 fruit bodies of Leucoagaricus meleagris, described by Sowerby in 1798 from Lady Arden’s hot-bed, but rarely
recorded since. Mature specimens exhibited a hint of lemon deep in the gills. Both of these Leucoagaricus species are described fully in Flora Agaricina Neerlandica (FAN) volume 5. All these remarkable fungi were seen in pristine condition on what turned out to be an historic day. When I returned two days later they had withered away or in the case of the Russulas succumbed to the mower, though my return was made worthwhile with a sighting of the rarely recorded Volvariella volvacea, distinguished in the field by a grey-brown volva and usually growing in clusters (see photo p.139). It should be noted that there had been no significant rainfall in the previous fortnight. The following week (still without rain), 1 discovered a further collection of Agaricus rufotegulis from the site of the first UK record in 1997 (see Fungal Portrait p.111). I am indebted to Geoffrey Kibby, Brian Spooner, Alick Henrici and Nick Legon for confirming my identifications; and also to the Geoffrey Kibby for photographing the collections for the BMS.
1 cm
Russula luteotacta with its intense yellow stains after bruising. Photograph © Geoffrey Kibby.
118
Field Mycology Volume 4(4), October 2003
1 cm
Leucoagaricus americanus (= L. bresadolae). Note the orange stains developing on the stem of the specimen on the right and the overall pink or reddish flush on mature fruitbodies. Photograph © Geoffrey Kibby.
1 cm
Leucoagaricus meleagris, a rare species confined in Europe to greenhouses or to thick layers of compost, sawdust or woodchips. It rapidly stains first yellow then reddish-orange as seen here on the gills of the upturned cap and the cross-sections on the right. Caps reach about 6cm in diameter. Photograph © Geoffrey Kibby.
119