Chapter V: Introduction (4)

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: An easily recognisable fungus growing on
stumps and old living trees, especially of sycamore and elm where it
often forms tiers of caps from late spring until autumn; however, they
decompose rapidly and almost completely disappear by the next year
when new fruit-bodies may appear in the same place, a phenomenon which
may take place for several consecutive seasons.

_General Information_: The genus _Polyporus_ is in most text-books, a
big and unwieldy genus joining together all fleshy, annual fungi
possessing tubes; even the boleti (see p. 32) have been included! Many
of these species are now considered less closely related one to
another than previously thought. Boleti differ from polypores,
however, in their less tough and distinctly putrescent fruit-body, and
in the fact that the margin of the cap extends but does not continue
to grow during the life-cycle; the margin of the polypore fruit-body
is active and may burst into growth again when favourable weather
conditions occur. The ‘Scaly polypore’ has a flesh which consists of
two types of hyphae: (i) hyphae of unlimited growth with abundant
protoplasmic contents which stain easily and which collapse on drying;
and (ii) thick-walled, strengthening hyphae which bind the thin walled
hyphae together. _Laetiporus sulphureus_ (Fries) Murrill ‘Sulphur
polypore’ has a single type of hyphae in the tubes, i.e. thin walled
generative, and only a few binding hyphae in the flesh. It has an
orange cap with a rather thick, sulphur or chrome-yellow margin,
sulphur-yellow tubes and pores and yellow, then pale buff, flesh. The
spore-print is white and the spores hyaline, pip-shaped and medium
sized, (5-7 × 4-5 µm).

_Illustrations_: _P. squamosus_--F 43^{b}; Hvass 267; LH 75; NB 129¹;
WD 94¹. _L. sulphureus_--Hvass 268; LH 73; NB 129³; WD 94².

Some common annual polypores

~Piptoporus betulinus~ (Fries) Karsten

Birch polypore

Cap: 75-200 mm, kidney-shaped or hoof-shaped, smooth, covered by a
thin, separable and greyish silvery or pale brownish skin; cap-margin
thick, incurved and projects beyond the tubes.

Stem: rudimentary, simply a small hump below which the fungus
develops.

Tubes, pores and spore-print: white.

Spores: sausage-shaped, and thin-walled hyaline under the microscope
and very narrow, (5-6 × 1-2 µm). It grows on birch throughout the
country where it causes a sap wood-rot which finally converts the
inner timber to a red-brown friable mass. The flesh, which contains
thickened binding hyphae, is used for mounting insects and for
sharpening knives, hence the common name ‘Razor-strop fungus’.

_Illustrations_: Hvass 269; LH 67; NB 117⁴; WD 93³.

~Inonotus hispidus~ (Fries) Karsten

Shaggy polypore

Cap: 100-250 mm, kidney-shaped, yellow-brown to rust-brown, but
finally almost black, at first covered with shaggy hairs, but these
tend to mat together with age.

Stem: absent.

Tubes and flesh: rust-colour; pores at first yellow, but finally
red-brown.

Spore-print: yellow-brown.

Spores: medium sized (8-9 × 7-8 µm) and globose under the microscope.
It grows on various broad leaved trees, especially ash where it causes
a spongy, white heart-wood rot. The flesh contains hyphae with thick,
brown walls.

_Illustrations_: LH 63; WD 96¹.

~Phaeolus schweinitzii~ (Fries) Patouillard

Cap: 100-300 mm, bracket-shaped or tub-shaped, dark brown with a
knobbly, velvety, roughened and grooved surface; margin at first
golden yellow.

Stem: absent or short, thick and brown.

Tubes and pores: greenish yellow.

Flesh: deep rust-brown.

Spore-print: greenish yellow.

Spores: medium sized, greenish under the microscope, ellipsoid and
about 8 × 4 µm in size, (7-8 × 3-4 µm). This fungus is found on
conifers or near conifer stumps where it is attached to the roots; it
causes a brown cubical heart-wood rot; the flesh of the fruit-body is
composed of only one type of hyphae.

_Illustrations_: LH 67; NB 111³; WD 95¹.

~Meripilus giganteus~ (Fries) Karsten

Giant polypore

Cap: 75-100 mm, or even up to 200 mm wide, grouped and forming a tuft
of caps up to 750 mm across. The individual caps are fan-shaped,
pliable, rather thin and yellow-brown to snuff-brown with their
margins wavy and cream colour or yellowish.

Stem: replaced by a united mass of caps.

Tubes, pores and flesh: white and very soft, but becoming black on
bruising.

Spores: small, pip-shaped, hyaline under the microscope and 5-6 × 4-5
µm. This fungus is a common sight forming masses at the base of
broad-leaved trees; it is common on beech. It is a soft, fibrous
polypore as a result of the lack in the flesh of thick-walled
specialised hyphae.

_Illustrations_: Hvass 277; LH 73; NB 129⁴; WD 93¹.

The spores of all the annual polypores described above do not blue
when placed in solutions containing iodine.

~Coriolus versicolor~ (Fries) Quélet

Many zoned polypore

_Cap_: 25-60 mm. _Stem_: absent.

_Description_: Plate 46.

Cap: semi-circular, flattened, thin, tough and flexible when fresh
with the surface velvety and marked with smoother, paler concentric
zones giving a pattern of yellow-brown, grey or darker greenish grey
zones; the margin is thin and is the palest of the zones and may be
wavy or lobed.

Tubes: white with small, round and rough-edged to angular white or
cream-coloured pores which become yellowish with age.

Flesh: white, tough and continuous with the tube tissue and so not
allowing one to detect any difference between the tissues.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: medium sized, oblong and hyaline under the microscope, and 6-8
× 2-3 µm; not blueing in solutions containing iodine.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Very common on stumps, trunks and fallen
branches of various trees, especially beech; it is to be found
throughout the year.

_General Information_: It is often associated with nodulose masses of
fungal tissue which are covered in small poroid areas and are very
confusing when found by the beginner; they are simply growth-forms of
_Coriolus versicolor_; such forms are frequently found on old
house-timbers exposed to the weather, particularly window frames where
it forms a distinct rot. Its flesh consists of thin-walled hyphae and
binding hyphae as in _Polyporus squamosus_ as well as an additional
thick-walled type called skeletal hyphae. It would appear that several
polypores are capable of producing the amorphous growths mentioned
above, some of which contain hyphal fragments called conidia.

The bands of colour on the cap of the ‘many zoned polypore’ are
retained after drying and from a group of fruit-bodies the most
attractively zoned can be selected, mounted on small pieces of wood or
cardboard and fitted at the back with a pin. Such preparations make
very attractive brooches and have been used even by modern designers
to contrast with their fashion creations.

There are many pale tubed polypores growing on wood. _Daedalea
quercina_ Fries ‘Mazegill’, grows on oak and has irregular maze-like
pores; _Lenzites betulina_ (Fries) Fries, grows on birch, has tough
plates which resemble the gills of an agaric. _Datronia mollis_
(Fries) Donk forms thick spreading resupinate patches on beech,
sometimes with irregular dark brown caps formed by the upturned
margin. Several species of _Tyromyces_ occur in Britain and are
characterised by their white pores and tubes and the white or
pale-coloured caps. _Bjerkandera adusta_ (Fries) Karsten has a grey
pore-surface and is also frequently found on beech.

_Illustrations_: F 44a; LH 69; NB 117³; WD 51².

~Ganoderma europaeum~ Steyaert

Common ganoderma

_Cap_: 100-350 mm. _Stem_: absent.

_Description_: Plate 47.

Cap: bracket-shaped, rather flat at margin but humpy and irregular
about the middle, frequently concentrically zoned, smooth and only
slightly shiny; its margin is whitish or pale greyish.

Tubes: red-brown or cinnamon-brown, obscurely layered and with small,
white pores flushed with pale cinnamon-brown, but deep red-brown when
rubbed or with age.

Flesh: with a fragrant smell, deep red brown and felty-fibrous.

Spore-print: dark cinnamon-brown.

Spores: long, oval with truncate apex, smooth, but reticulate on the
inner surface of the inner wall giving the spores a patterned
appearance when seen under the microscope; 10-11 × 6-7 µm in size.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus is common on various trees,
especially beech and can be found throughout the year.

_General Information_: This common _Ganoderma_ is perennial and
distinguished from other polypore groups by the complex spores. _G.
applanatum_ (Fries) Karsten is closely related, but differs in the
thinner fruit-body with a thin margin, and the pale cinnamon-brown
flesh; the flesh of both species contains thick-walled binding and
strengthening hyphae as well as the generative hyphae.

So sensitive are the pores to bruising that if a drawing or writing is
executed on the lower surface with a pin, needle or similar sharp
instrument and the fungus dried, the red-brown lines produced are
retained and the pattern preserved. Several fungus paintings prepared
in this way were made in the early part of the century, many beautiful
ones having originated in the eastern part of North America.

_Fomes fomentarius_ whose important characters are described below has
frequently been confused with _Ganoderma europaeum_. It is common
growing on birch in Scotland, but is less frequent south of Perth, and
then grows probably more frequently on beech which is similar to the
pattern found on the continent of Europe. However, it has grown in
former periods in England on birch, for it was found commonly amongst
birch timbers in an excavation of an early Mesolithic lake side
village near Scarborough, Yorkshire.

_Illustrations_: NB 125³; WD 160².

Some perennial polypores. Plate 48.

~Fomes fomentarius~ (Fries) Kickx

Tinder fungus

Cap: 90-300 mm, hoof-shaped, thick, broadly attached to the substrate,
zoned with yellow-brown and shades of grey; its margin is blunt and
fawn or pale brownish.

Tubes: layered, cinnamon-brown with pale cinnamon pores with a whitish
bloom.

Flesh: cinnamon-brown or buff and woolly.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: elongate, ellipsoid, very long, hyaline under the microscope,
15-18 × 5-6 µm, and not ornamented. The flesh contains both thick- and
thin-walled hyphae. It grows on birch and less frequently on beech.
The flesh has been used in dentistry, in manufacturing fancy articles,
such as mats, and was the basis of the tinder used in flint-boxes.

_Illustrations_: LH 65; NB 117¹; WD 100¹.

~Phellinus igniarius~ (Fries) Quélet ‘Willow Fomes’, grows on willows
and causes their heart-rot. It is a rust-brown, woody fungus with a
hard crust and brown tubes and flesh. The spore-print is white and
composed of small, spherical, hyaline spores, 5-6 µm in diameter. The
flesh contains thin- and thick-walled hyphae.

_Illustrations_: LH 63; WD 99³.

~Oxyporus populinus~ (Fries) Donk, grows on various sorts of
broad-leaved trees, particularly poplars and often becomes covered in
mosses and algae. It has a pale buff or cream-coloured cap, white
flesh, pores, tubes and spores.

_Illustrations_: LH 67.

~Cryptoderma pini~ (Fries) Imaz, grows on conifers often several feet
above the ground. It has a woody, deeply cracked upper surface, dark
red-brown flesh, tubes and pores. Its spores are small, broadly
ellipsoid and brown.

~Heterobasidion annosum~ (Fries) Brefeld

Root fomes

Variable, sometimes possessing a cap, sometimes resupinate except for
the upturned margin, flattened or shell-shaped, red-brown to blackish
at the centre but pale at the margin, which when seen from below is
always white. The tubes are in layers and like the pores, flesh and
spore-print are white. The spores are broadly ellipsoid, small,
smooth, hyaline and 4-5 × 4 µm. The flesh is fairly tough as it
contains both generative hyphae and skeletal hyphae. It is frequent on
the roots and lower parts of stems of many trees and shrubs causing a
rapid heart-rot of conifers and extensive damage to young trees.

_Illustrations_: LH 67; NB 111¹; WD 98¹.

The spores of all the perennial polypores described above do not blue
when placed in solutions containing iodine.

~Schizophyllum commune~ Fries

Split-gill fungus

_Cap_: 10-25 mm. _Stem_: width 2-4 mm; length 2-4 mm.

_Description_:

Cap: greyish fawn becoming whitish when dry, fan or kidney-shaped,
often lobed and covered in close-set hairs and with incurved margin.

Stem: absent or the cap simply narrows into a stem-like bump.

Gills: replaced by a series of grey-brown plates which when dry appear
as if to split longitudinally and their edges roll back.

Flesh: brownish but drying whitish.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: medium sized, oblong, hyaline under the microscope, not
blueing in solutions containing iodine and 6-7 × 2-5 µm in size.

Facial and marginal cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Grows on fallen branches, trunks, dead
wood, etc.

_General Information_: Easily recognised by the ‘gills’ radiating from
a point and becoming ‘split’ when dry. Specimens of _Schizophyllum_
sealed by A. H. R. Buller in a tube in 1911 have been shown on
remoistening to unroll their gills and shed variable spores, after 52½
years--probably a world record! The split-gill is a rather unique
British fungus which appears to be much more closely related to the
polypores than to the agarics--although it has for a long time been
associated with the Oyster mushroom (p. 74). In fact, the splitting
gills are two adjacent shallow dishes with spores produced on their
inner surfaces. The cups separate on drying and therefore only
superficially resemble gills splitting down the centre.

Another fungus which can also be associated with the idea of cups is
_Fistulina hepatica_ Fries ‘the Beef-steak fungus’. This fungus is a
polypore in the widest sense. It may grow up to 250 mm wide and is
reddish-brown or liver-coloured with reddish tubes and pale
flesh-coloured pores; the tubes although free are aggregated together
and can be easily separated individually with the fingers. This fungus
is edible although very strong in taste, it produces a serious decay
of oaks.

_Illustrations_: _S. commune_--LH 105; NB 125⁶; WD 69³. _F.
hepatica_--F 43³ (lower figure); Hvass 278; LH 75; NB 129²; WD 101⁴.

(b) Destroyers of timber in buildings

~Serpula lacrymans~ (Fries) Karsten

Dry-rot fungus

_Description_:

Fruit-body: usually widely spreading, but sometimes forming a distinct
bracket with the upper surface silvery or smokey grey, flushed with
lilac or rose or yellowish.

Stem: absent and replaced by a series of dirty white or greyish
mycelial threads or strands which can be traced up to 100 mm over the
substrate.

Flesh: thin, dirty yellowish and composed of only one type of hypha.

Spores: borne in shallow pores which are part of a complicated network
of rust-brown folds and ridges.

Spore-print: rust-brown.

Spores: medium sized, golden yellow, thick-walled and broadly
ellipsoid, and 8-10 × 5-6 µm in size.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: On worked wood in buildings and less
commonly in timber-yards. It can be found throughout the year.

_General Information_: This fungus forms fan-like structures and
strands of mycelium which pass along beams and joists and through
plaster. Where there is a bad case of dry-rot, the room or building
will have an unpleasant musty smell and when actually growing the
fungus exudes droplets of water on the mycelium and fruit-body, i.e.
weeping, hence the name ‘lacrymans’--weepy. It is a very important and
destructive agent causing damage to floors and skirting boards, to
joists and beams. It is a frequent pest of old houses and therefore of
many of our cities. This fungus does not appear to have been found in
the wild in Europe, but there is a record from the Himalayas. There
are, however, very closely related species found on soil or
wood-detritus. The Dry-rot fungus darkens the wood and produces a rot
which makes the wood crack into small cubes or rectangular blocks.

This fungus was formerly placed in _Merulius_, but this genus should
be retained for hyaline-spored fungi, e.g. _M. tremellosus_ Fries, a
species which grows even in winter on stumps of various trees in our
woods.

_Illustrations_: LH 53; WD 103³.

~Coniophora puteana~ (Fries) Karsten

Cellar or Wet-rot fungus

_Description_:

Fruit-body: variable in size, resupinate, composed of one type of
hypha only and with a sterile whitish cream or yellow margin.

Spore-bearing tissue: an irregularly wrinkled or humpy, yellowish
surface which then becomes olive-green or bronze-colour.

Spore-print: olivaceous brown.

Spores: olive-brown under the microscope, smooth, ellipsoid,
thick-walled and 12-14 × 8-9 µm in size.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus causes wet-rot in houses, but
may also be found on stumps and fallen trunks in woodland.

_General Information_: The fungus causes a discolouration of worked
timber and induces longitudinal cracking with only a few lateral
hair-like cracks unlike timber attacked by the dry-rot fungus (see p.
154).

_Illustrations_: WD 103⁵.

~Fibuloporia vaillantii~ (Fries) Bondarsev & Singer

_Description_:

Fruit-body: a resupinate layer of pores with cream-coloured or white
sterile radiating margin.

Spore-bearing tissue: distributed within a series of small often
shallow, white or ivory tubes.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: smooth, hyaline under the microscope, oblong 5-7 × 3-4 µm.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: The dry-rot of houses, particularly in
roof-systems.

_General Information_: _Fibuloporia vaillantii_ is recognised by the
white, resupinate pore-surface and fairly tough nature due to the
presence of strengthening hyphae. Just as the genus _Polyporus_ was
found to be composed of several quite different elements (see pp.
140-44) and has since been split up into a number of different genera,
the genus _Poria_ has also been fragmented; one of the constituent
genera is _Fibuloporia_. _Amyloporia xantha_ (Fries) Bondarsev &
Singer differs in having amyloid tissue and cystidia encrusted with
crystals. The flesh contains both simple hyphae and thickened
structural hyphae. It is yet another member of the large old unwieldy
genus _Poria_ and causes decay of worked wood, particularly the
timbers of benching and staging in greenhouses. _A. xantha_ has a
sulphur-yellow pore-surface and is rather cheesy when handled.

(c) Colonisers of cones

~Auriscalpium vulgare~ S. F. Gray

Ear-pick fungus

_Cap_: 8-12 mm. _Stem_: width 4-6 mm; length 40-75 mm.

_Description_:

Cap: kidney-shaped or semicircular, thin, date- or umber-brown, hairy,
but paler towards the margin.

Stem: erect, slender, hairy, particularly at the base, and attached at
the side of the cap (excentric).

Gills: replaced by flesh-coloured, then greyish brown spines.

Flesh: brown.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: small, hyaline, minutely spiny, spherical, 4-5 µm in diameter,
and becoming blue-grey in solutions containing iodine.

Cystidia: flask-shaped with oily contents.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus is always found on fallen
pine-cones and occurs from early summer to autumn.

_General Information_: The ear-pick fungus is easily recognised by the
slender, elegant habit, excentrically placed cap, substrate preference
and dark colours. It cannot be confused with any other fungus.
Recently it has been shown that the ‘agaric’ _Lentinellus cochleatus_
(Fries) Karsten (p. 76) is more closely related to _Auriscalpium_ than
this fungus is to other spine-bearing forms and _Lentinellus_ is to
the other agarics. Both fungi possess thick-walled cells in the flesh
and oil-containing hyphae; they are placed in the family
_Auriscalpiaceae_.

Another laterally stemmed Hedgehog fungus differs in possessing
distinctly gelatinised teeth and preference for conifer wood and not
cones. Examination of the basidia of this fungus shows that it is more
closely related to the jelly-fungi, _Exidia_ and _Tremella_ (p. 184)
than to Hedgehog fungi such as _Auriscalpium_ or _Hyndum repandum_
Fries (p. 160). This false nature is reflected in the name of the
genus to which it belongs, _Pseudohydnum_, and the very gelatinous
texture in the specific name ‘_gelatinosum_’: the fungus is
_Pseudohydnum gelatinosum_, or as it used to be called _Tremellodon
gelatinosum_.

_Illustrations_: Auriscalpium vulgare--WD 103⁶. Pseudohydnum
gelatinosum--WD 105⁹.

(d) Terrestrial forms

~Hydnum repandum~ Fries

Wood-hedgehog

_Cap_: 50-75 mm width. _Stem_: width 10-17 mm; length 45-65 mm.

_Description_:

Cap: rather thick, fleshy, pinkish buff or tan, paler at its incurved
and often lobed margin.

Stem: short, stout and powdered with white roughenings and often
attached to the cap to one side of the centre.

Gills: replaced by awl-shaped, pinkish buff spines which are unequal
in length and run down the top of the stem.

Flesh: white, firm and with a pleasant smell.

Spore-print: whitish.

Spores: medium sized, hyaline under the microscope, smooth, broadly
ellipsoid, 7 × 6-7 µm, and not becoming bluish grey in solutions
containing iodine.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: The ‘wood-hedgehog’ grows on the ground in
mixed woods and is easily recognised by its colour and fleshy texture.

_General Information_: The closely related, smaller, red-brown species
_H. rufescens_ Persoon grows with conifers. _Hydnum_ was formerly a
genus which contained several entities, now not considered closely
related. Thus the following genera have been delimited in addition to
those related to _Hydnum repandum_ and _H. rufescens_, and
_Auriscalpium_ described on p. 158.

_Sarcodon_: Fruit-body fleshy: spores brown and ornamented with
irregular bumps, e.g. _S. imbricatum_ (Fries) Karsten.

_Phellodon_: Fruit-body tough and fibrous: spores white and ornamented
with small spines, e.g. _P. niger_ (Fries) Karsten.

_Hydnellum_: Fruit-body tough and fibrous: spores brown and ornamented
with irregular bumps and bosses, e.g. _H. scrobiculatum_ (Secretan)
Karsten.

_Bankera_: Fruit-body fleshy: spores white and ornamented with small
spines, e.g. _B. fuliginoalbum_ (Fries) Pouzar.

_Illustrations_: Hvass 280; LH 61; NB 153³; WD 53⁴; Z 61.

(ii) Chanterelles and relatives

~Cantharellus cibarius~ Fries

Chanterelle

_Cap_: 30-100 mm. _Stem_: width 15-25 mm; length 30-70 mm.

_Description_:

Cap: convex then flattened, irregularly wavy, more or less top-shaped,
depressed and smooth or slightly roughened at centre, egg-yellow or
lemon-chrome with flush of orange and with the margin incurved at
first.

Stem: short, stout, tapered downwards, fleshy and similarly coloured
to the cap.

Gills: replaced by irregularly branched yellow folds which may form a
network near the margin and at the apex of the stem over which the
folds run down irregularly (decurrent).

Flesh: with pleasant, fruity smell, yellow but paler on drying.

Spore-print: pale cream-colour.

Spores: medium sized, ellipsoid, thin-walled, smooth, 8-10 × 5-6 µm in
size and not becoming bluish grey in solutions containing iodine.

Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.

Basidia: 2-8 spored.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Very common in troops in deciduous woods
especially those with beech and oak.

_General Information_: Easily recognised by its folds and absence of
true gills beneath the cap and the overall yellow colour. This fungus
is the edible chanterelle of the continental market, where it is
considered of very high quality; it can be purchased in this country
in tins. _C. friesii_ Quélet is of a bright apricot colour with
lilaceous or rose-coloured flesh. The ‘false chanterelle’
_Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca_ (Fries) Maire already discussed (see p.
106) has true gills and is reddish orange in colour.

_Illustrations_: Hvass 182; LH 59; NB 123²; WD 83¹.

~Craterellus cornucopioides~ (Fries) Persoon

Horn of plenty

_Cap_: 22-80 mm. _Stem_: width 15-25 mm; length 25-80 mm.

_Description_:

Cap: funnel-shaped, membranous to leathery, but limp, dark brown or
almost black in wet weather, but on drying becoming dull brown or
sepia, slightly scaly and with irregularly wavy margin.

Stem: short, blackish and hollow.

Gills: absent, replaced by a smooth to irregularly wrinkled, ash-grey
surface.

Flesh: sepia but drying out greyish ochre.

Spore-print: cream-colour.

Spores: medium sized, hyaline under the microscope, ellipsoid, smooth,
10-11 × 6-7 µm in size and not blueing in solutions containing iodine.

Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.

Basidia: usually 2-spored.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Often in very large troops in woods,
especially under beech.

_General Information_: This fungus is recognised by the peculiar shape
and dull colours which conceal it so well amongst the dead leaves and
woodland debris; in the shade of the tree-canopy it is easily
overlooked. _Craterellus sinuosus_ (Fries) Fries is a much smaller
species with dirty ochraceous fertile surface and brownish grey cap
and stem.

‘Cornucopioides’ means like (oides) a horn of plenty, a familiar
object in mediaeval paintings as part of heathen festivities full and
overflowing either with fruit or wine, or both!

_Illustrations_: Hvass 186; LH 59; NB 123¹; WD 83⁴.

(iii) Fairy-club fungi

~Clavulina rugosa~ (Fries) Schroeter

Wrinkled club

_Cap_: absent. _Fruit-body_: length 50-100 mm; width 7-13 mm.

_Description_:

Fruit-body: club-shaped, simple with blunt apex or irregular blunt
branches, white or dirty cream colour, often thickened upwards and
marked with longitudinal wrinkles or grooves and the whole surface of
the club bearing spores.

Stem: absent or extremely short.

Flesh: white.

Spore-print: white.

Spore: medium sized, broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, hyaline under
the microscope and not turning bluish grey in iodine solutions, 9-10 ×
7-8 µm in size.

Cystidia: absent.

Basidia: 2-spored.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Frequent on the ground in woods,
especially in the shade of beech trees or in conifer plantations.

_General Information_: Two very closely related species are to be
found in similar localities and are equally as common; they are _C.
cristata_ (Fries) Schroeter with strongly branched white fruit-body,
each branch ending in pinkish or lavender-white, divided, sharply
pointed branchlets and _C. cinerea_ (Fries) Schroeter with irregular
greyish or dark grey branches with a flush of violaceous.

These three species are very closely related; in fact so many
intermediates between the extreme morphological forms are known that
some authorities have considered them simply forms of a single
species. All these species lack cystidia.

rugosa--wrinkled, referring to the spore-bearing surface.

cristata--crested, referring to the branchlets.

cinerea--ash-grey, referring to the colour.

All these species are often found blackened by the growth of the
microscopic fungus, _Helminthosphaeria clavariae_ (Tulasne) Fuckel.

_Illustrations_: _C. rugosa_--LH 55; WD 104⁵. _C. cristata_--LH 55; NB
153⁵; WD 104². _C. cinerea_--WD 104¹.

~Clavaria vermicularis~ Fries

White spindles

_Cap_: absent. _Fruit-body_: width 6-10 mm; length 50-85 mm.

_Description_: Plate 56.

Simple or very rarely branched, but not forked below the soil-level,
densely tufted, spindle-shaped, pure white with sharp, often slightly
brownish, tips, when old it is wavy, often twisted, compressed and
fragile.

Stem: absent.

Flesh: whitish.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: small, pip-shaped, smooth, hyaline under the microscope, 4-5 ×
3 µm in size, and not becoming bluish grey in iodine solutions.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common in autumn amongst grass in fields,
less frequent in woods.

_General Information_: _Clavulinopsis fusiformis_ (Fries) Corner,
‘Golden spindles’ is similar to _C. vermicularis_, but forms dense
tufts of canary-yellow, very fragile clubs joined in 2’s or 3’s below
the soil level; the spores are also slightly different, being almost
globose, hyaline under the microscope and 5-7 µm in diameter.

_Clavaria fumosa_ Fries is similar to _C. vermicularis_ and forms
tufts of very fragile mouse-grey clubs with brownish tips; it produces
elongate ellipsoid spores measuring 6-8 × 3-4 µm which are hyaline
under the microscope. _C. vermicularis_ and _C. fumosa_ differ from
_Clavulinopsis_ in hyphal construction, but the differences are rather
difficult to demonstrate to the beginner. _Clavulinopsis helvola_
favours similar habits to _C. fusiformis_ and although yellow in
colour differs in the more orange-yellow colouration, but more
particularly in the spores being rounded, 5-6 µm in diameter with
large angular spines.

The earth-tongues, i.e. members of the family _Geoglossaceae_ which
are also found in pastures belong to an unrelated group of fungi, the
Ascomycetes. If the clubs are crushed and examined under the
microscope rows of sacs (asci) containing long thread-like ascospores
are found--no basidia are to be seen.

_Illustrations_: _Clav. fusiformis_--WD 104⁹. _C. vermicularis_--WD
104¹⁰. _C. fumosa_--Hvass 303; WD 104¹¹. _Clav. helvola_--Hvass 300;
WD 105¹.

~Clavulinopsis corniculata~ (Fries), Corner (p. 171).

_Cap_: absent. _Fruit-body_: complex; width 20-30 mm; length 20-40 mm.

_Description_: Plate 57.

Fruit-body: shape depending on the length of grass in which it grows
but always branching strongly from its base, composed of a dense
compact tuft of egg-yellow or orange-tawny branches which are either
irregular or of equal length and so they form a flattened top to the
fruit-body complex, the branchlets are slender, forked 2- or 3-times,
with their apices narrowed or curved.

Stem: very downy at the base.

Flesh: pale yellow.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: medium sized, hyaline under the microscope, smooth, spherical
and 5-7 µm in diameter, not becoming bluish grey in iodine solutions.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common amongst grass in fields or on
grassy path sides in woodland.

_General Information_: _Clavulinopsis corniculata_ is recognised by
the branched habit and the smooth spores; _Ramaria ochraceo-virens_ is
of similar form, but has an overall duller colour and turns green on
bruising, grows in pinewoods and has finely roughened brownish spores.
_Calocera viscosa_ also has an erect, bright golden or orange-yellow
fruit-body which becomes more orange on drying. It is repeatedly
branched and usually has a long, tough-rooting base. However, the
spore-print is dirty yellowish and the fruit-body, which grows on
coniferous wood, is viscid and elastic, a character reflected in the
name ‘viscosa’. Microscopically the basidium of _Calocera_ is shaped
like a tuning-fork and is not clavate as in _Clavulinopsis
corniculata_. It appears to be more related to the jelly-fungi (see p.
180).

_Illustrations_: _Clavulinopsis corniculata_--LH 55; NB 6; WD 104³.
_Calocera viscosa_--Hvass 304; LH 225; NB 149³; WD 107⁸.

~Typhula erythropus~ Fries.

_Cap_: absent. _Fruit-body_ up to 20 mm high.

_Description_:

Fruit-body: upper fertile portion club-shaped and not more than half
the length, white, surmounting a reddish brown, thread-like, often
wavy or twisted stem which is attached at its base to an ellipsoid
bead-like structure, called a sclerotium.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: oblong, smooth, hyaline under the microscope, 6-7 × 2 µm in
size and not becoming bluish grey in iodine solutions.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Not uncommon on dead leaves and twigs or
dead herbaceous stems.

~Pistillaria micans~ Fries.

_Cap_: absent. _Fruit-body_: up to 10 mm high.

_Description_:

Club-shaped or oblong, rose-pink hardly differentiated from the
similarly coloured stem, and arising at most from a small pad of
filaments.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: broadly ellipsoid to pip-shaped, smooth, hyaline under the
microscope, about 10 × 6 µm (8-11 × 5-7 µm) in size and not becoming
bluish grey in iodine solutions.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Not uncommon on dead herbaceous stems and
leaves, especially those in damp places.

_Illustrations_: _T. erythropus_ WD 105¹⁰. _P. micans_ WD 105⁷.

General notes on the club-fungi

Early mycologists believed that the club-shaped nature of the fruit-body was important in the classification of these fungi. Thus the Earth Tongues (_Geoglossum_, see Plate 57), the Stag’s horn fungi and relatives (_Xylosphaera_ see p. 204), both Ascomycete groups, the Dacrymycetales (a group of jelly-fungi, see p. 180) and the true fairy-clubs were all classified together. It was the ‘Father of Mycology’, the Swede, Elias Fries, who in 1821, as in many other groups of fungi, made an attempt to make some sense of the chaos. By very careful observations, and what is so amazing without using a microscope, he was able to separate the tough stemmed and gelatinous stemmed groups from the more slender or coral-like ones. Fries was a very keen observer and noticed features which many modern authorities miss in the field because they rely too heavily on the microscope. Fries’ system was used almost unchanged until the second half of this century; its beauty was its simplicity in that it joined together in one group all those fungi with simple basidia and the spore-bearing tissue distributed all around a simple club or around the branches of a complex fruit-body resembling a coral. However, by a careful examination of the microscopic structures, such as the spores and hyphae and the development of the fruit-body, it has been found necessary to separate these fungi still further. The ecology of the club-fungi has assisted in an understanding of these proposed divisions.

The larger many branched clavarias, more correctly placed in the genus _Ramaria_, are to be found on bare soil in woodlands and plantations; _R. ochraceo-virens_ is common in conifer plantations and can be recognised by the long ornamented spores, which characterise this group of fungi, and the fact that the sandy-coloured fruit-body becomes dark olive-green on bruising (see p. 170).

_Clavariadelphus pistillaris_ is the largest of our simple club-fungi; it may grow up to 200 mm high and 50 mm wide. This fungus has a wrinkled outer surface and sometimes the apex of the club becomes flattened and lacks basidia; this suggests a possible relationship, perhaps evolutionary, to the primitive chanterelles (see p. 162)--also woodland fungi. _Clavulina_, a complex group of dull or whitish, branched fruit-bodies, has been described earlier and the genus is characterised by the large spores and 2-spored basidia; they are woodland fungi also.

The grassland species are often simple in structure belonging in the main to the genus _Clavulinopsis_ (see p. 170) and the now much reduced genus _Clavaria_ (see p. 168). Although really complex, some of these species of _Clavulinopsis_ are branched only below the soil level and thus appear as single clubs amongst the grass. Perhaps the single club has evolved especially to grow amongst blades of grass. _C. corniculata_, however, is well branched and the head is tight and compact and often flattened close to the ground. The same fungus in woodland is more open and because of this it was thought to be a different species to the grassland form. It is the simple club which dominates the form of those species which grow on herbaceous debris and grass-stems; indeed several species of _Typhula_ cause diseases of grass particularly those of lawns where they have suffered damage because of cold or long periods under the snow. Some of these small fungi produce a small hard mass of fungal tissue about the size of a lupin seed (called a sclerotium). This is a resting body from which the club-shaped almost filament-like fruit-body later develops.

~Thelephora terrestris~ Fries

Earth-fan

_Cap_: absent. _Fruit-body_: width 20-40 mm; height 30-50 mm.

_Description_:

Fruit-body: erect, fan-shaped or effused with upturned margin, tough
but thin and fibrous, chocolate-brown or cocoa-coloured, scaly from
radiating fibrils and with fringed, pale buff or wine-coloured margin.

Gills: absent and replaced by a wrinkled or irregularly granular, dark
lilaceous grey or cocoa-coloured surface.

Flesh: brown and thin.

Spore-print: purplish brown.

Spores: medium sized, dark brown under the microscope, warted-angular
and 8-9 × 6-7 µm in size.

Cystidia: absent but basidia often filled with brown contents.

Basidia: 2-4 spored.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Found on the ground in woods, especially
pine woods; also on heathland growing up vegetation and incorporating
it into the fruit-body’s shape.

_General Information_: There is some evidence to suggest that this
fungus can form mycorrhiza with pine trees under certain conditions.

Although it may be easily passed over because it is perfectly
camouflaged it is quite easy to recognise when collected. _T. palmata_
(Bulliard) Patouillard, is a bigger, less frequently seen species more
coral-like in shape; it also grows in pine woods. When the fruit-body
of _T. terrestris_ spreads over the soil or plant debris it resembles
other members of the family to which it belongs, i.e.
_Thelephoraceae_; species of _Tomentella_. They also have warty
angular spores, purplish brown colours, and wrinkled or puckered
spore-bearing surfaces. _Tomentella_ spp., however, are resupinate or
encrusting and so do not form caps, even at the margin of the
fruit-body. _Tomentella_ is one of the many genera which were classed
collectively as resupinate fungi because they lack a cap and form
crusts. This group ‘the resupinates’ consists of a whole series of
quite unrelated fungi.

_Illustrations_: LH 53; NB 47⁸.

(iv) Resupinate fungi

When mycologists talk generally about ‘resupinates’ they are referring to a whole group of Basidiomycetes whose spore-bearing layer is exposed, the cap highly reduced or completely lacking, and the fungus adhering to the surface of the substrate which may be soil, wood, grasses, etc., at the point which would have been the cap of an agaric. Probably members of the group are the most commonly seen yet it is one of the most commonly ignored groups of fungi--by naturalists and mycologists alike; they form ‘white wash’ on old sticks, dark coloured discolourations on trunks, etc. It is an entirely artificial group of many quite unrelated elements united on the common factor of having either a reduced or primitive fruit-body consisting only of a sheet of tissue. However, these same fungi have a uniting factor in that they frequent the same ecological sites, e.g. on muddy soil in bogs, under overhangs of banks and stream sides, undersides of logs, trunks, branches and twigs, hidden in cracks of old stumps or spreading over carpets of conifer needles or dead leaves and sedges.

By studying the anatomy of the fruit-body and the characters of the spores certain relationships can be found which relate many of these fungi to several other groups of fungi we have dealt with in earlier chapters.

It is only possible to mention here the group as a whole for all the species really require very careful examination, often necessitating several hours of microscope work. They should be left by the beginner until more experience is obtained and advice of an expert easily available.

Although the group mainly contains saprophytes, a few are parasitic. ‘Silver-leaf disease’ of almonds and fruit trees is caused by _Stereum (chondrostereum) purpureum_ (Persoon) Fries; it has a purple fruiting surface, and greyish upper surface when ever this is formed at the margin.

There are several species of _Stereum_ in Britain, three species of which when handled in the fresh state stain red: _S. sanguinolentum_ (A. & S.) Fries, a pale coloured species on conifer wood, _S. rugosum_ (Pers.) Fries a similar coloured species on beech, birch and especially hazel, and _S. gausapatum_ Fries an ochraceous yellow species on oak, often forming a pocket rot of the timber. However, the commonest member of the genus is an orange-tawny coloured species with a greyish buff, hairy cap, _S. hirsutum_ (Willd) Fries. It grows on many trees of broad-leaved wood and can be found wherever twigs, branches, trunks or stumps have been lying out in the rain; it does not bleed.

Those species of resupinate fungi which resemble members of this genus, i.e. those with a distinct tough, although poorly developed, cap, are called stereoid.

‘Red thread disease’ of grass which often causes unsightly red patches on lawns and school and corporation playing-fields is caused by _Corticium fuciforme_ (Berkeley) Wakefield. Fungi belonging to this genus produce fruit-bodies which ‘scramble’ over the substrate; for example, if one searches old elder trees throughout the year one will certainly find a ‘white wash’ fungus of this type, _Hyphodontia sambuci_ (Pers.) J. Eriksson. Fungi with this type of fruit-body are called corticoid.

The two major types are illustrated along with some of the bizarre microscopic structures one finds in the resupinates; such structures are useful in classification and identification, and their beauty and intricacy make up for the surprisingly simple fruit-body shape and texture.