Redlead Roundhead, Stropharia aurantiaca: once a rare species, now sometimes all over the woodchip under trees in parks.
Chicken of the Woods Laetiporus sulphureus on Red Oak. It’s very good to eat … if you can reach it!
Hare’s Foot Inkcap, Coprinus lagopusBonnet mushrooms, Mycena sp. Hundreds of these delicate little fungi on the woodchip under almost every tree.
A yellow Brittlegill, Russula cf farinipes
A grey Brittlegill, Russula; maybe R. cyanoxantha or R. brunnoviolacea
Bolete under Caucasian Fir, cf Slippery Jack Suillus luteus
Wrinkled Club, Clavulina rugosa, a bit unusualBrown cap, lilac gills … Wood Blewit, Lepista nuda. Delicious, if you can find them somewhere you’re allowed to pick them!
Young Blewits: now that’s an amazing colour! (absolutely no enhancement of any kind)
Clouded Funnel, Clitocybe nebularis: young specimens with cap still domed (that was confusing!), but top (see next photo) distinctively cloudy. Gills crowded and decurrent, white.
Young Clouded Funnels. Larger specimens develop a flattened or slightly funnel-shaped cap, and the gills become much more obviously decurrent.
Mycology from the Master: Alick Henrici with a keen pupil
A rare Rhodocybe gemina, the first record for Gunnersbury Triangle
Purple Swamp Brittlegill, Russula nitida
Mild Milkcap, Lactarius subdulcis. When scratched, Milkcaps exude a milky liquid (note the drops), with a taste that helps in diagnosis. This one is not peppery!
Earthball, Scleroderma – sometimes used to dilute costly Truffles, but toxic
Turkeytail Bracket, Trametes versicolor
Common Cavalier, Melanoleuca polioleuca
The Blusher, Amanita rubescens – an edible member of a dangerous genus. Its pink ‘blush’ when damaged can be seen in small patches of the cap and on the broken stalk.
Apart from the fungi named in the image captions, we also saw plenty of the Deceiver (Laccaria laccata); Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria amethystina); assorted species of Fairy Bonnets (Mycena spp.); the Brown Rollrim (Paxillus involutus); Puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum); and more. There was hardly any Birch Polypore – we often have fine big white brackets of them: just one small nodule, Piptoporus betulinus.
Alick Henrici on Fungus Foray
Dreaded by gardeners – Honey Fungus, Armillaria mellea
Lilac Fibrecap, Inocybe geophylla var. lilacina
Webcaps, Cortinarius
An extremely tough bracket fungus
The English seem unemotional … except for their passion for nature
