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.