Fungus Season

Armillaria species, Honey Fungus.  Beckenham Place Park, 16 October 2016.

 Autumn is the fungus season, when many species put out their fruiting bodies.  Although this year, we have had an unusually sunny and dry start to the season, and there are fewer fungi than usual.

But that is far from saying there are none.  This group are from Beckenham Place Park, which had a golf course, some parkland and a nice piece of ancient woodland. 

The first photo is a Honey Fungus.  These are parasites on living trees, and can also consume the dead wood when the tree dies, very handy for a destructive parasite.  Honey Fungus used to be classified as a single species, Armillaria mellea, but is now split into about 10 species, and I can't tell which this one is.  It is too scaly to be the remaining A. mellea. 

Chondrostereum purpureum, Silverleaf.  Beckenham Place Park, 16 October 2016.

This is another destructive parasite, which causes silverleaf on plum trees.  I have seen it in an old orchard nearby.  The purple tint makes it easy to recognise at this stage.  There is another fungus that has small purplish brackets, but that only grows on dead conifer wood. 

Ganoderma resinaceum, Lacquered Bracket.  Beckenham Place Park, 16 October 2016.

Ganoderma is another genus that is parasitic on trees.  This one, Lacquered Bracket, is not the most common.   You can often see brackets like this on Beech; those are different species.  This one is on an Oak.  The books say it also grows on other species, but Oak is where I see it.

It's growing vigorously.  Those other species are perennial growths, and are nearly as tough as the wood they grow from, but this one is annual and is quite spongy.

Coprinellus micaceus.  Glistening Inkcap.  Beckenham Place Park, 16 October 2016.

This one is different.  These sparkly caps grow in grass and among trees.  They only last a few days, but there can be several flushes in the same locality.  It's not always this easy to identify, because the sparkles can wash off in a good rainstorm and there are a few other similar non-sparkling species.

Finishing with another tree dweller:

Grifola frondosa, Hen of the Woods.  Beckenham Place Park, 16 October 2016.

This "Hen of the Woods" is edible, and is said to be tasty.  It grows at the base of Oaks.  This is the first I have seen, though coincidentally I saw another in a different local wood not long after.  Not to be confused with the yellow brackets of "Chicken of the Woods," this one does look a bit like fluffed-out hen's feathers.

Beckenham Place Park

Ancillary buildings and autumn trees at Beckenham Place Park, 30 November 2013.

Autumn and winter views at Beckenham Place Park.  This is a municipally owned golf course, with at one side buildings dating from the 1760s.  Surrounding the course are ancient woodlands and further away, some meadows forming the flood plain of the small River Ravensbourne.  This view across the golf course shows the small formal gardens.  Work on the roof of that building is obviously under way.

The mansion in Beckenham Place Park across the golf course.  20 December 2013.

In this view of the mansion, three weeks later, only a few leaves are left on some of the trees.  In the centre are some Crataegus, related to Hawthorn but with much larger berries.  I don't know which species or variety these are, but they look good.  This is still part of the golf course; the holes run between double rows of trees.  The mansion currently contains a visitor centre and a café.

Dead oak in Beckenham Place Park, 20 December 2013.

I thought this tree looked quite spectacular against the sky.  The brush around its base is placed there by park management, I suppose to protect it from golfers.

A final pic from elsewhere in the park:

Stinking Iris, Iris foetidissima.  Beckenham Place Park, 30 November 2013.

The bright orange berries of the Stinking Iris.  When crushed, its leaves have a strong smell which has been compared to roast beef, though I would not really care to eat beef that smelled like that.  And you can tell from both its common and Latin names that the smell was not generally thought to be pleasant.