Fascinating Fungi
Post categories: fungi
| 15:30 UK time, Monday, 26 September 2011
I love Autumn in the , not just the crisp sunny days, the foggy early starts or the colour of the leaves - the mix of reds, oranges and golds - the berries and fruits all around - it's fungi that get me really excited!
There is something magical about fungi; mushrooms and toadstools featured heavily in my childhood. I spent hours reading 's tales "Pip the Pixie" and "The Magic Faraway Tree".
Dryad's saddle
For me it really is fairies at the bottom of the garden - or in some cases is it fairies up in the trees? We see them growing around the base of trees, but how often do we look up into the trees?
Working in the Arboretum I spend a lot of time looking up so I see the magnificent fungal brackets attached, growing within the tree. You can see so many different types and colours but have we really thought about the relationship the tree has with fungi? Are they useful? Are they friendly? Are they a warning sign?
Many of our larger, older trees at Thorp Perrow have been affected by fungal brackets. Some of these parasitic fungi attack the lignin and others attack the cellulose. These can then produce large fruiting bodies from the stem of the tree. Brackets can look quite amazing but they are usually a warning sign of ill health in a tree.
Birch Polypore
A common and very beautiful bracket fungus is Polyporus squamosus or Dryad鈥檚 saddle. This bracket fungus lives on living or dead wood on most broad leaved trees. It鈥檚 an edible fungus that can also be used to make paper.
Some fungi are specific to certain tree species, for example, Pitoporus betulinus or Birch Polypore. The bracket fungus attacks weakened trees. This fungus was once used for sharpening razors but it鈥檚 now commonly used as a canvas by artists.
Some fungi attack already weakened trees. Pholiota squarrosa or Shaggy scalycap does just this. An opportunistic, parasitic fungus, it feeds off trees already weakened by damage or disease. It is found in clumps around the base of trees. It is often mistaken for Armillaria mellea or Honey fungus, which is another fungus us arborists dread.
In the fungi world it is the symbiotic fungi that truly amaze me. These wonderful fungi form give and take relationships with trees called mycorrhiza. Although they live on or inside trees, they do not cause damage. They absorb nutrients and water, and what they don鈥檛 need they pass on to the tree roots, forming a wonderful friendship.
Lichen
A beautiful example of this is the Amanita muscaria or Fly Agaric (or, as I prefer to call them, fairy toadstools). Extremely poisonous, this toadstool was used to kill flies. It was broken up and soaked in milk; flies fed from this and were poisoned to death. My beautiful yet deadly fairy toadstool.
Another example of a relationship with fungi is lichens. Lichens are two organisms living together as one. It is the relationship between fungi and algae. A different lichen develops when different combinations of fungi and algae grow together. They each depend on one another to survive. The fungus feeding from the algae, and the algae getting protection from the fungus - a very clever relationship.
Fungi have appeared in fairy tales for years. I can understand why they have such a reputation. They pop up overnight, as if by magic! Fairy rings are a result of the fungus spreading outwards underneath the soil, with the mushrooms popping up around the edges. People used to believe that fairies and elves danced around these magic circles and used them as little stools to sit on.
So next time you see a mushroom take a good look around you and wonder who it鈥檚 living alongside? Is it a 鈥榞oodie鈥, is it a 鈥榖addie鈥 or is it simply magical?
As our resident fungus expert, Gordon Simpson says 鈥淩emember, all toadstools are edible but some only once!鈥
Don鈥檛 forget to look up!
Faith Roskrow is the curator of Thorp Perrow Arboretum. Explore the fascinating world of fungi by attending one of the Arboretum's upcoming .
Comment number 1.
At 29th Sep 2011, everhopeful wrote:there are some fungi appeared thru the gravel near our pergola they are grey and look like thatched huts growing in a clump. Do u think they are a problem also how can we tell if we have honey fungus which is attacking an old apple tree.
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Comment number 2.
At 3rd Oct 2011, hereisabee wrote:Gerrards Cross Common has been a good place to see the Birch Polypore, and not far away from Enid鈥檚 old home in Beaconsfield, Bucks. The Common was once covered in gorse, this caught fire and everything was burnt to a cinder. Out of the gorse ash grew silver birch seedlings and the trees predominated until the 80's when oak and holly took a hold. It is eerie to see a woodland change, in fact the holly became so strong it required thinning.
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Comment number 3.
At 5th Oct 2011, Sally Nex wrote:Hello everhopeful, it's hard to identify your fungi without a picture at least. Rogers Mushrooms ( is a good place to start: they have pictures of practically every type of fungus you can think of.
Most fungi in the garden aren't a problem at all - just nature's way of dealing with dead and dying wood. However if you're concerned you have honey fungus, you could join the RHS, which has a fantastic advice service for members: you can then send in a sample for identification. Their advice page on honey fungus, giving the telltale signs by which you can identify it, is here:
Herisabee: it's quite amazing how something that seems as destructive as fire can be a positive force for good in natural surroundings. As you say, a woodland is a living thing that changes all the time - it's part of what makes it so fascinating!
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