Glamorgan Fungi Group; Bwlch yr Afan

Two years ago the foray here was rained off. The weather was just terrible; Great weather for ducks but not mushroom pickers...at any moment one expected Noah to come sailing by. This year the weather was beautiful and we found several species, especially Russula. Some head scratching Cortinarius and a few other things of course including a new Lactarius/Milkcap.

 

Glamorgan Fungi Group Foray Dates 2010

Below are the GFG programme dates for 2010. Included are map references to all destinations.
Everyone is welcome to join in. The Glamorgan fungi group is about learning about mushrooms and identifying them. We always appreciate new people joining, even if just for one foray. It's relaxed, a good walk and a chance to enjoy the countryside.
It's been suggested that for next year we start earlier in the year and do a foray every two weeks.This year the programme is as follows:

SEPTEMBER
19th Afan argoed/ Meet at the carpark/visitor centre
MR SS 821 950

26th
Bwlch yr Afan/ Meet at the lay by
MR SS 916 954

OCTOBER
3rd.
Whiteford Burrows/Cwm Ivy Woods. Meet at car park.
MR SS 439 935

10th
Ogwr Ridgeway (S.E. of Mynedd Margam) Meet in carpark
MR SS 845 872

17th
Kenfig Burrows Wildlife Reserve/Meet in visitor carpark.
MR SS 801 810

24th
Mynnedd Belli Glas/ Meet at Viewpoint car park.
MR SN 926 031

31st
Crynant Forest/ Meet at lay by/Aberdulais  Falls
SS 773 995

NOVEMBER

7th
Gethin Forest/ Meet at Abercanaid Picnic site
MR SO 055 035

14th
Moorlakes Wood/ Meet at Fairwood Airport entrance
MR SS 572 912

21st
Ogmore,/ Southerndown Portobello House/ Meet in the carpark
MR SS 874 741

As always take a packed lunch, hot and cold drinks, good waterproof shoes and clothes.
All forays start at 10.30, finish at 3.30. unless we're rained off.
If the weather forecast is awful it will be cancelled. Check your email early on the day. I'll email or phone to let you know by 9.am if cancelled.
Barry.

Afan Argoed: Fungi on Wood

Quite a few of the species we found live on wood. Some are connected to specific tree species and some are only live on either conifer or broad leaf species. Some species are not so fussy, such as Armillaria, the destructive Honey Fungus.

Rutstroemia firma/Brown Cup
This very small mushroom looks like a goblet in shape then flattens out with a depressed centre. Importantly it has  a very short stipe, only a few millimetes long, which can be seen in the lower photo.
Oxyporus populinus/Poplar Bracket

Calocera viscosa/Yellow Staghorn
The popular name refers to the shape of the tips of the mushroom: 'stags horns' which can be seen in both photos. That shape and the yellow colour is the only fungi that grows in this way..
Stereum hirsutum/Hairy Curtain Crust

Xylaria hypoxylon/Candlesnuff Fungus

Dacrymyces stillatus/Common Jellyspot

Postia caesia/Conifer Blueing Bracket


Piptoporus betulinus/Birch Polypore

Stropharia aurantiaca/Sulphur Tuft


Kuehneromyces mutabilis/Velvet Shank or Sheathed Woodtuft

Cudoniella acicularis/Oak Pin. the younger fruiting bodies are white all over and when they mature the top becomes black. This is a very small fungi.


Two unidentified species..


Fungi found on wood at Afan argoed.
Cudoniella acicularis/Oak Pin
Rutstroemia firma/Brown Cup
Oxyporus populinus/Poplar Bracket
Calocera viscosa/Yellow Staghorn
Stereum hirsutum/Hairy Curtain Crust
Xylaria hypoxylon/Candlesnuff Fungus
Dacrymyces stillatus/Common Jellyspot
Postia caesia/Conifer Blueing Bracket
Piptoporus betulinus/Birch Polypore
Stropharia aurantiaca/Sulphur Tuft
Kuehneromyces mutabilis/Velvet Shank or Sheathed Woodtuft

Fungi from Afan Argoed Foray

Spent all morning going through the mushrooms we picked yesterday. Oh the joys of identification. As always the small brown/light coloured mushrooms are the most difficult (seven species below.) and there are times when it all gets a bit too much.

They are not the only problem though. Two larger toadstools (below) are also proving rather tricky but I haven't given up yet.

Below is an Entoloma but I can't identify it specifically. Entoloma have pink coloured gills although of course there are exceptions to the rule, a couple of them have gills that are a striking blue/violet.
Another species; Pluteus also has pink gills but unlike Entoloma they grow on wood or wood debris. This distinction is important in determining which species it is.


Lactarius/The Milkcaps
As the common name explains, these mushrooms exude 'milk' like liquid, especially in the gills and flesh when cut or crushed. We found three, possibly four milkcaps. Some have very distinctive smells.
The one below is the Coconut Milkcap. It was easy to identify due to its strong coconut smell. It's cap and stipe are slightly pinkish in colour.
Lactarius glyciosmus/Coconut Milkcap

Below is one Milkcap that I'm not certain of. It exuded a watery white milk at the time but lost it very quickly
Below is Lactarius spinosulus/Lilacscale Milkcap. It's got a dark salmon colour with darker spots and concentrate rings or zones on the cap surface, like the rings of Saturn.


This Milkcap is very unusual. The cap is very slimy to the touch, the stipe is viscid. The milk is plentiful and white and dries a grey colour over a long period of time. Using a myco-key; a series of lists that helps identification by deduction should prove helpful in identifying the two unknown species...and indeed it did.
This is Lactarius albocarneus.

Laccaria/The Deceivers
Called 'Deceivers' because they change colour and appearance over time, they are not as difficult to identify as the name implies. I found some last week and at first I thought I'd picked up something different but they were Deceivers. So it's still possible to be initially fooled.

There are not many types of Laccaria. Laccaria laccata/The Deceiver, (below), is very common. It changes colour when it dries, becoming lighter and when it grows can can adopt some strange cap shapes. The stipe can twist and sometimes be long and thin or short. It's this kind of variability that can be troublesome.

One of the defining charcteristics of the genus is that the cap, gills and stipe are more or less the same hue. The stipe is usually streaked with a darker tone of the base colour running longitudinally .
Laccaria amethysta/Amethyst Deceiver. It has a lilac/purple colour as can be seen below.




Russula/The Brittlegills
There were four Russula found including R. ochroleuca but three I haven't seen before. They were slightly tricky to identify. The brittle quality of all parts of the mushroom is what basically defines the species physically.
Below is what I think is Russula gracillima/Slender Brittlegill but I'm not one hundred percent sure. 99% sure.

Russula cyanoxantha/Charcoal Burner.
A very common species. One of the defining qualities of The Charcoal Burner are its gills which are flexible. One can run ones fingers across the gills without them crumbling.
Its cap colour is very variable including lilac, purple, grey, green, and brown if not a mixture of them all. Strangely enough it's this colour mixture that can help identify the mushroom rather than hinder.

Russula nigricans/Blackening Brittlegill
A very large Russula. This specimen was about 12cms wide. The cap is dark brown and becomes darker to almost black as it matures. The gills are thick and widely spread with smaller gills in between those that reach from the stipe to the cap margin. They bruise grey and rose. The photo below does not show how white the stipe was when picked.


Earthtongue, Marasmius and Mycena.
Left to Right
Trichoglossum hirsutum/Hairy Earthtongue, Marasmius epiphyllus/Leaf Parachute, Mycena stylobates/Bulbous Bonnet.

2nd from right is Marasmius epiphyllus/Leaf Parachute. The stipe which can be quite long is very pale at the apex and gets progressively dark towards the base.

On the far right is Mycena stylobates/Bulbous Bonnet. One of the defining features of this Mycena can be seen at the base of the stipe. One can see a disc attached to the wood, rather like a foot.

Mycena epipterygia, (below). This particular mushroom is easy to identify because of the lemon yellow colour in the stipe which is viscid to the touch. It's quite a striking hue and unique to this common Mycena.

Below is a list of virtually all the species we found and identified. Some names are left incomplete because I cannot be specific at the moment. When I find out what they are I'll complete them Unidentified fungi have not been added until I can determine which genus they belong too.


Afan Argoed 19-9-10
Laccaria laccata/The Deceiver
Laccaria amethysta/Amethyst Deceiver

Russula ochroleuca/Ochre Brittlegill
Russula cyanoxantha/Charcoal Burner
Russula nigricans/Blackening Brittlegill

Lactarius glyciosmus/Coconut Milkcap
Lactarius albocarneus?
Lactarius spinosulus/Lilacscale Milckcap


Mycena stylobates/Bulbous Bonnet
Mycena epipterygia

Marasmius epiphyllus/Leaf Parachute

Rutstroemia firma/Brown Cup
Oxyporus populinus/Poplar Bracket
Calocera viscosa/Yellow Staghorn
Stereum hirsutum/Hairy Curtain Crust
Xylaria hypoxylon/Candlesnuff Fungus
Dacrymyces stillatus/Common Jellyspot
Postia caesia/Conifer Blueing Bracket
Piptoporus betulinus/Birch Polypore
Stropharia aurantiaca/Sulphur Tuft
Kuehneromyces mutabilis/Velvet Shank or Sheathed Woodtuft
Cudoniella acicularis/Oak Pin

Helvella crispa/White Saddle
Leotia lubrica/Jellybaby
Coprinopsis atramentaria/Common Inkcap
Melanoleuca polioleuca/Common Cavalier
Lycoperdon perlatum/Common Puffball
Scleroderma citrinum/Scaly Earthball
Boletus badius/Bay Bolete
Armillaria mellea
Hebeloma (unidentified)

Glamorgan Fungi Group/Afan Argoed Foray

Afan Argoed..

The first foray of the GFG was at Afan Argoed today. It was very productive and we found many mushrooms from many genus. Fortunately the weather, whilst overcast, was kind and it didn't rain.
In the car park alone were Incoybe, Hebeloma, Helvella crispa, some crusts and a jelly fungus. The woods here are a mixture of pine and broad leaf trees. The paths we took led us to find Lactarius and Russula and some species of fungi I've not seen before but some of which I've identified such as Cudoniella acicularis/Oakpin Fungi. something I've not seen before.

We found Laccaria laccata/ The Deceiver but especially Laccaria amethystea/Amethyst Deceiver. It's gorgeous purple colour stood out. Last time I saw that fungi was five years ago and 80 miles west, down in Pembrokeshire.
Tomorrow I'll identify as many as I can.. Below are some photos of what we found.

Hypholoma fasciculare/Sulphur Tuft


Lactarius glyciomus/Coconut Milkcap

Piptoporus betulinus/Birch Polypore


Calocera viscosa/Yellow Staghorn

Postia caesia/ Conifer Blueing Bracket


Helvella Crispa/White Saddle

Dacrymyces stillatus/Common Jellyspot