Fun on a fungus foray - what will you find?
The latest in a series of articles written by members of the
Otter Valley Association
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| • MOST ARE HARMLESS, some are deadly:
There are many types of mushroom and ‘toadstool’.
|
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| • NOT AS lovely as it looks: The Death
Cap, does what is says on its label! Ref OVAThedeathcap. |
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| • COLOURFUL FUNGI: Orange Waxcaps bring a splash of
colour to lawns. RefOVA orangewaxcaps. |
Members of the Otter Valley Association have a huge range of skills
and expertise and at this time of year the naturalists and mycologists
are much in demand. In this article Jean Turner of East Budleigh
shows why.
In autumn the countryside takes on a colour and beauty quite different
from the fresh green of spring or the showy colours of summer. It
is the time of fruiting and harvesting. It is also the time for
searching out the fruiting bodies of a strange group of organisms
- the fungi. Autumn is their time of the year, and the Otter Valley
and its environs are as rich an area for foraying as any.
I think all of us have relished the smell of a pan full of fresh
field mushrooms sizzling in butter and savouring the delicious taste,
especially with a few rashers of bacon. Some of us may even have
a secret place where we know where to collect them, but what of
the multitude of other fungi that we can see in the countryside
at this time of the year?
“Toadstool” is the common name we give to those fungi
we consider inedible and with them the situation is quite different.
Because of their strangeness and their habit of popping up, seemingly
from nowhere, we usually have a healthy distrust of these often
pallid or lurid denizens of dark woods.
Nevertheless they are a fascinating group of organisms and they
actually outnumber the different species of flowering plants. The
fungi that we are familiar with are only the largest members of
a huge group of organisms. Some of these are life savers, like penicillin,
and other killers, such as ergot. The group includes rusts and mildews
which damage crops and yeasts used in the preparation of food and
drink. But, whatever the type, fungi play an important role in nature.
They are our waste disposers extracting their nutrients from organic
matter.
What we see above the ground in the autumn are merely the fruiting
bodies of the fungus, most of which is hidden in the ground as a
mass of interconnected threads called a mycelium. Sometimes, the
fruits stay underground and can only be found by smell, as is the
case with truffles. All the fruiting bodies produce many tiny spores
which are released in a great variety of ways. The most common fruiting
bodies consist of a cap held above the ground by a stalk. The spores
are shed through flanges called gills found on the underside of
the cap. Once the spores are dispersed the fruiting bodies begin
to decay, so these structures are short lived and the season for
collecting them is short. It is, however, very rewarding to go in
search of them at this time of the year, and, if you are interested
in their culinary importance, you will no doubt be keen to identify
them.
Although most fungi are harmless some are poisonous, and a very
few, deadly. So, unless you are absolutely certain of your identification,
or have had it confirmed by an expert, it is wise not to eat it.
The most infamous group, the Amanitas, contains the Death Cap (shown
here) and the Destroying Angel, both true to their names! If you
find a fungus which has white gills, a ring on the stem, and a bag
(volva) or bulb with a rim at the base of the stem, leave it alone!
Death Caps are commonly associated with broad leaved trees and I
have seen several locally.
There are also several poisonous fungi which look very like edible
ones. Even the group containing the field mushrooms has its less
palatable species. The Yellow Stainer, so called because if it is
cut in half it will stain yellow, is found in similar situations
to the field mushrooms but it is poisonous. Another example is the
Chanterelle. This is one of the best edible fungi, with its rich
egg-yolk yellow colour and its pleasant smell of apricots; but there
is a False Chanterelle which is also bright orange and looks superficially
like a Chanterelle. Although it is not very poisonous it can cause
digestive upsets.
However, if you can't smell the difference there is another simple
way of telling species apart. Take a spore print. This technique
produces useful and often beautiful results. Pick a mature fruiting
body and, as soon as you get home, cut the cap from the stem and
place it, gills down, on a piece of paper. Cover the cap with an
inverted jar or glass and after a few hours the spores dropped will
have produced a pattern on the paper. The colour of the spores can
be an important aid to identification.
But, before I conclude, let me give you a taste of just one group
of gilled fungi which you may find on your own lawn.
If you see a small, bright red, yellow, green or white fungus, often
with a greasy or slimy conical cap, bearing waxy gills that sometimes
run down the stem, then you have found a Wax Cap. One garden I visited
in Budleigh Salterton had 10 different species, including one which
is quite rare and looks so like a delicate pink tutu when its frilly
cap edge curls up at maturity, that it is called The Ballerina.
These beautiful fungi do no harm to your lawn, but add to the splendour
and variety. There are lots of other edible specimens that you may
find in your garden including the Fairy Ring Champignon, the Shaggy
Ink Cap and the Parasol Mushroom.
The Otter Valley and its surrounding woodlands, heaths and meadows,
and indeed your own gardens, will reveal a very varied crop of fungi,
and, if you are interested in finding out more about them, or are
just interested in the edible ones, the best way of getting to know
them is to join a fungus foray.
There is one being led by Marion Nalder, a member of the Otter Valley
Association and a field mycologist, in early November 2006 (details
at http://www.ova.org.uk)
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