Tackling earthtongues

Back in November, I popped back to that East Sussex cemetery where I found all the waxcaps in October (here), and –⁠ as well as waxcaps –⁠ I encountered a load of earthtongues. I've never managed to summon the courage to try ID'ing earthtongues before, but figured it must be time I had a go...

Resources used: 

• The updated Key to Earthtongues 2019, by Irene Ridge with thanks to Mal Greaves and David Harries (DRAFT), accessed here: https://northwestfungusgroup.com/members-page/
• Identikit key to 'Geoglossum' 2017, by Malcolm Greaves, accessed here: http://www.myfg.org.uk/tombiovis/tombiovis-1.8.2/geoglossum.html
• Earthtongues in the UK: a note on their status with particular reference to recent studies of the genus Microglossum (version 7) Pembrokeshire Fungus Recording Network 2019, by Gareth Griffith, David Harries and Brian Douglas.
• Taxonomic divergence of the green naked-stipe members of the genus Microglossum (Helotiales) 2017, by Viktor Kučera & Michal Tomsovsky, accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2016.1274620
  
• Fungi of Temperate Europe by Thomas Læssøe and Jens H Petersen

Let's go! 

Collection #233: a hairy one

 

 

You can see the hairs on the stem under a hand lens.

In this squash you can see the thin, dark setae.

In this squash you can see the asci with 8 ascospores inside.

And this image of the spores at 400x magnification shows them being 15-septate.

I think this is sufficient to call this one Trichoglossum hirsutum.

Collection #234: a squamulose one

This one has a scaly stem.

I thought I was seeing loads of hyaline spores, which really confused me, because I couldn't get to a sensible answer in the key... 

... but I got some advice on the BMS Facebook Page (here), and Malcolm Greaves explained that Geoglossum fallax produces masses of pale asepate spores which later become dark and septate.

Also Mandy Dee mentioned about the paraphyses being embedded in a brown matrix, which you can see in this squash:

So, I think I can call this one Geoglossum fallax, with some confidence.

Collection #232: a green one. Ooh!

I know enough to know this is one of those Microglossum ones.

I think there's a paraphysis here, in the centre of the image. It's mounted in water and I fancy I can see the green pigment - darker towards the tip.

And I had a go at measuring some asci.

The note on 'Earthtongues in the UK' talks about there being a number of green Microglossum species. There's a key in the paper by Viktor Kučera & Michal Tomsovsky, mentioned above. So I thought I'd have a go with that - working with this collection and the one below.

 Collection #231: another green one (the same? let's assume it's the same...)

I got a spore print from this one. 

I think the combination of Asci <105 μm long and ascospores around 15–18 × 4–5 μm gets me to Microglossum truncatum. But I'm not super sure about that!

Collection #239: a brown one

I think this is another Microglossum. 

Very hard to see mounted in water, but I think I spotted some straight paraphyses. (Would this be easier if I was using a stain? Not sure what's best to use with ascos...?)

And here's a shot of the spores from a copious spore print. 

I am feeling a bit lost with the literature with this one, as the olive-brown Microglossum species are still 'taxonomically active'. Might need to get some more help!

Return to Southwick Hill

 

Last year during lockdown I took a trip to Southwick Hill (blog here) to look for grassland fungi on this Downland site on the edge of the city of Brighton & Hove. It looked promising, so I returned this week with members of Sussex Fungus Group to undertake a grassland fungi survey, with permission from the National Trust who look after this site.

The first mushrooms we came across were (I think) Fools Funnel Clitocybe rivulosa. It has a sort of powdery ('pruinose') covering on the cap, which gives it a slightly different look to various other beige mushrooms we saw today.

We got a nice set of beige waxcaps:

The intervenose gills are a key feature of Toasted Waxcap Cuphophyllus colemannianus.

I thought these very-beige Snowy Waxcaps might be Cuphophyllus virgineus var. ochraceopallidus.

These white specimens looked more like classic Cuphophyllus virgineus var. virgineus.

And this collection had the unique scent of Cedarwood Waxcap Cuphophyllus russocoriaceus.

We also found a couple of BIG beige mushrooms. I think this one is Slender Parasol Macrolepiota mastoidea, based on the texture on the stipe and the presence of a thin ring which it was possible to slide up and down the stipe. But I must admit I'm not 100% sure what the separating characters are between this species and other 'Parasol-like' species, such as M. excoriata.

The mushrooms weren't all beige. We also found some fresh young Yellow Fieldcaps Bolbitius titubans (I wrote a blog about my first encounter with this species, here).

There was a brown Entoloma, with a kind of silky sheen to the cap, which I was very tempted to call Entoloma sericeum and leave it at that.

This rather dried-out yellow-brown coloured bonnet had me stumped at first, but I think it's Brownedge Bonnet Mycena olivaceomarginata. My Mycena book (by Aronsen & Læssøe) talks about the gills being "basally interveined in age", which they are — very much so — here. 

The gills look almost deformed — is this how Mycena olivaceomarginata normally looks, or is something else going on here? It's got the brown edge to the gills anyway.

Next up, not a genus I'm very familiar with, but I think this is a Melanoleuca species. I could do with some more guidance on this one, there seem to be lots of quite similar-looking Melanoleuca species? I find these ones hard to get excited about, if I'm honest.

When you get to the part of the site where the A27 runs under Southwick Hill, there is an area of shorter grassland which looks like its been more tightly grazed by rabbits. This seemed to be the richest part of the site, in terms of the diversity of grassland fungi. As well as Snowy Waxcap C. virgineus and Cedarwood Waxcap C. russocoriaceus here, we found some non-beige waxcaps!

Blackening Waxcap Hygrocybe conica s.l.   

Spangle Waxcap Hygrocybe insipida (noting the reddish top to the stipe). Very smol! About 5mm across.

Meadow Waxcap Cuphophyllus pratensis. Unfortunately it looked like somebody had trodden on these shortly before we got to them, but they're still showing that fresh apricot-orange cap colour nicely.

We were rather puzzled by these fragrant-smelling grey-brown mushrooms. Now I'm wondering if it's Spotted Blewit Lepista panaeolus... (I'm waiting for it to give me a spore print.)

Photo by @apeasbrain.

I'm drawing a complete blank on the next lot of beige mushrooms. I think I was beiged-out by this point.

This patch of Meadow Coral Clavulinopsis corniculata was very nice to see.

Elsewhere on the site we came across a few patches of yellow spindly-club-type things. I think these are one of the yellow Clavulinopsis species (perhaps Apricot Club Clavulinopsis luteoalba, but I think they're microscope jobs to be sure).

We also saw the remains of various puffballs. I thought perhaps the tall ones were old Meadow Puffballs Lycoperdon pratense and the smaller round ones a Bovista species (you can see the remains of an outer case on the specimen on the right). But I'm not sure if I've got enough for a species-level identification here.

And, an added splash of colour! An orange rust fungus on Salad Burnet. Perhaps Phragmidium sanguisorbae?

For the record

Survey date: 6 November 2021

Records will be entered into iRecord in due course.

Holy Smoky Spindles!

 

I was asked to take a look at an East Sussex cemetery this week, after a local ecologist noticed it was looking very waxcappy and OH MY GOODNESS, was it waxcappy!!!

I make it fourteen species of waxcaps recorded on today's visit. Considering the threshold for consideration for SSSI status is 19 species (which would typically be recorded over multiple visits, over several years), that's pretty darn waxcappy! This site will certainly qualify as being of at least regional importance for its grassland fungi assemblage, based on what I've seen today. Here's a quick list (all photos taken on site today):

1. Pretty sure this is Spangle Waxcap Hygrocybe insipida, with the translucent, striate cap. I don't always see it with such decurrent gills, but it is a very variable species and the gills can be deeply decurrent, according to Boertmann.

I've got this one down as H. insipida too, with that red top to the stipe. But I'm open to correction! H. insipida is so variable it can be a bit bamboozling at times.

 

2. Snowy Waxcap Cuphophyllus virgineus. Classic snowy. Loads of these around.

3. Butter Waxcap Hygrocybe ceracea. Note the consistently yellow tones, adnate gills and more diminutive stature compared to the next species.

4. Golden Waxcap Hygrocybe chlorophana. You can see from the shine on these how viscid they are. Note the adnexed gills.

5. Slimy Waxcap Gliophorus irrigatus. Very fresh and so slimy they were almost impossible to pick up!

6. Scarlet Waxcap Hygrocybe coccinea. Beautiful.

 There were SO MANY of these. The photos don't do them justice.

7. Blackening Waxcap Hygrocybe conica

Also popping up here near some H. chlorophana...

8. Pink Waxcap Porpolomopsis calyptriformis - a high diversity indicator. Around four fruit bodies in total. I liked the very delicate pink colour on these. 

9. Crimson Waxcap Hygrocybe punicea - a high diversity indicator. Stunning mushrooms.

10. Yellow-foot Waxcap Cuphophyllus flavipes - a high diversity indicator. Very fine specimens showing their yellow feet nicely.

11. Honey Waxcap Hygrocybe reidii. Reckon I definitely got the honey-like smell with these, and the colour is quite distinctive.

12. Neohygrocybe sp.? - a high diversity indicator. I'm still puzzling over this one but I'm thinking either N. ingrata, with those orangey-brown tones, or possibly N. nitrata? I thought maybe I could detect a faint nitrous smell but I'm not great with smells.

I've looked for reddening in the flesh (typical of N. ingrata) but I'm not convinced I'm seeing it.

13. Parrot Waxcap Gliophorus psittacinus

Some pretty tawny-coloured ones (showing a little bit of green if you looked hard enough).

... and some pinkish ones. Never get bored of the colours on these.

14. Meadow Waxcap Cuphophyllus pratensis. 

I think these were just starting to show. Made me wonder if any other species will be on their way here, later in the season?

X. Hygrocybe sp. I'm not sure about.

The dry cap and that shade of orange are making me think H. reidii but I couldn't get the honey smell with these and I've never seen them growing so tall in a clump like this. So not sure if these are H. reidii but don't know what else they could be...

Also Meadow Coral Clavulinopsis corniculata, growing here with a teeny tiny Meadow Waxcap C. pratensis.

And a couple of patches of Smoky Spindles Clavaria fumosa.

Plus some yellow clubs and spindles which I haven't attempted to tackle. The diversity on this site was a bit overwhelming! Reckon I must have seen at least four different Clavarioid species today.

What a show!

 

For the record

Date: 30 October 2021

Records will be submitted via iRecord in due course.