What Does a Fungus Look Like?

Daldinia concentrica, King Alfred's Cakes.  Petts Wood, 24 October 2015.

So, what does a fungus look like?  There is no simple answer.  I will start with some from Petts Wood, where the Orpington Field Club's fungus lovers had an outing this autumn.  These are not rare fungi.  You only have to look around, in the right places and at the right times.  It helps if you are with a group, because more pairs of eyes means more things are spotted, and it helps if you, or someone in the group, is familiar with fungi.

This first example, King Alfred's Cakes, grows almost exclusively on dead ash, and pops up along the whole length of fallen trunks and branches.  When young, the outside is this mid-brown colour.  Later, they turn black, like a cake that has been allowed to burn in the oven.  If you cut into them, they have a crisp texture and show this unusual concentric pattern.

Ascocoryne species,  Purple Jellydisc.  Petts Wood, 24 October 2015.

This one, Purple Jellydisc, prefers the cut faces of dead stumps.  It could be one of two species, impossible to tell apart without a microscope.

Bisporella citrina, Lemon Disco.  Petts Wood, 24 October 2015.

Lemon Disco is smaller, but usually easy to see on old dead wood because of its bright colour. 

Thelephora terretris, Earthfan.  Petts Wood, 24 October 2015.

And the Earth Fan grows on the ground.  This one was on the edge of a small patch of heath, where the soil was relatively clear of other growth.  The green shoots are heather, and you can see the dries remains of bracken, indicators of an acidic soil.

I'll show some more conventional fungus shapes later.