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.
[Illustration: Plate 58. Club and Fan-shaped fungi]
(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.
[Illustration: Plate 59. Resupinate fungi]
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.
C. THE JELLY FUNGI
_Key to the major groups_
The jelly fungi or Hymenomycetous heterobasidiae is a complex group of
fungi and not only includes our common jelly fungi but many microscopic
forms some of which are parasitic. The group is divided into three main
divisions depending on the position of the cross-walls within the
basidium, or whether the basidium is in the shape of a tuning-fork. They
are probably not closely related one to another.
=Auriculariales= (Basidia divided into cells by transverse walls)
1. Fruit-body lacking a cap and more or less forming a gelatinous
coating on plant-debris _Helicobasidium_
Fruit-body with more or less distinct cap, gelatinous but tough 2
2. Fruit-body ear-like or cup-shaped; upper surface with grey hairs
and lower surface lilaceous brown or wine-coloured _Hirneola_
Fruit-body at first cup-shaped but then spreading; upper surface
grey and hairy, and lower surface purplish. _Auricularia_
=Tremellales= (Basidia divided into cells by longitudinal walls)
1. Fruit-body with distinct stem and spines on lower surface
_Pseudohydnum_
Fruit-body lacking a well-developed stem, either reduced to a small
lobe or entirely absent 2
2. Fruit-body flattened or disc-shaped, often with warts or veins on
the surface; spores more or less sausage-shaped _Exidia_
Fruit-body brain-like or with irregular bumps, sometimes lobed or
irregular and encrusting 3
3. Fruit-body brain-like or with bumps or bosses; spores rounded or
ovoid _Tremella_
Fruit-body encrusting woody or herbaceous material; spores
ellipsoid _Sebacina_
=Dacrymycetales= (Basidia resembling the shape of a tuning-fork)
1. Fruit-body club-shaped or coral-like _Calocera_
Fruit-body top-shaped or with irregular bumps 2
2. Fruit-body top-shaped _Femsjonia_
Fruit-body cushion- or brain-like, or with irregular bumps
_Dacrymyces_
~Dacrymyces stillatus~ Nees ex Fries
_Fruit-body_: 3-6 mm.
_Description_:
Fruit-body: cushion or brain-like, often irregular, lacking any
evidence of stem, yellow or orange, gelatinous, covered entirely by
spore-bearing tissue.
Spore-print: yellowish.
Spores: long, cylindrical or oblong, and slightly curved and 12-15 ×
5-6 µm in size; they characteristically have 2 to 4 cross-walls
dividing the interior of the spore (see below).
Cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common on all sorts of old wood,
particularly on fence-posts, wooden railway-sleepers and other worked
timber outside, e.g. sides of summer-houses and garden sheds. It is
also found on twigs and branches in woods and copses.
_General Information_: This fungus is found throughout the year, but
it is much more obvious under damp conditions when it is strongly
gelatinised and very soft; when dry it almost disappears. The tissue
bearing the basidia (perfect state) is yellow, when orange there is a
predominance of asexually produced spores called arthrospores
(conidia).
_D. deliquescens_ is only another name for the same fungus. There are
several species of _Dacrymyces_ with which _D. stillatus_ can be
confused, but can only be separated with certainty by using a
microscope. The Coral-spot fungus, frequently found in gardens,
produces gelatinous, pink protuberances on wood especially that of
sycamore, and may easily be mistaken for species of _Dacrymyces_. It
consists entirely of asexually produced spores (conidia) of the
Ascomycete _Nectria cinnabarina_. The perfect state appears late in
the year as grouped, small, blood-red flask-shaped fruit-bodies
containing envelopes of spores. It is quite unrelated to _Dacrymyces_.
~Calocera viscosa~ (Fries) Fries described earlier (p. 170) is closely
related to _Dacrymyces_. The much smaller, and probably equally as
common, _Calocera cornea_ (Fries) Fries is simple, club-shaped and
yellow, but darkens to become orange on drying. It grows up to 10 mm
high and occurs on all sorts of wood; it is especially common on wet
beech trunks. It approaches _Dacrymyces_ more than the much larger _C.
viscosa_.
_Illustrations_: _D. deliquescens_--LH 225; NB 149⁷; WD 107¹⁰. _C.
cornea_--WD 107⁹.
~Hirneola auricula-judae~ (St Amans) Berkeley
Jew’s ear
_Fruit-body_: width 20-75 mm.
_Description_:
Fruit-body: cup or ear-shaped, red-brown or deep wine-colour,
gelatinous with its upper surface, velvety and clothed in greyish or
olivaceous hairs.
Spore-bearing layer: reddish or purplish brown, smooth or veined and
translucent.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: very long, hyaline under the microscope, oblong, curved and
narrowed towards their base, 16-18 × 6-8 µm in size.
Cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: On dead branches of all kinds and
particularly common throughout the year on elder.
_General Information_: Easily recognised by the wine-coloured,
cup-shaped or ear-shaped fruit-body; it is often called _Auricularia
judae_ in many books. Its Latin name is reflected in the common
name:--_auricula_ ear and _judae_, of a jew. This fungus is supposed
to be a reappearance, as a warning to us all, of Judas, who on
betrayal of Christ hung himself from an elder tree.
~Auricularia mesenterica~ (S. F. Gray) Persoon, ‘Tripe-fungus’, is
bracket-shaped with a hairy upper surface and reddish purple or deep
purple lower surface which when fresh has a greyish bloom due to the
formation of the spores.
There are several fungi in the group Auriculariales in Britain, but
many of them are inconspicuous and are identified with difficulty
except by the expert. _Sebacina incrustans_ (Fries) Tulasne is a
common more obvious example of the resupinate forms. It grows as a
cream or ivory-coloured, soft fruit-body encrusting twigs, leaves,
grass and soil.
_Illustrations_: LH 225; NB 149¹; WD 107¹.
[Illustration: Plate 60. Jelly fungi]
~Exidia glandulosa~ (St Amans) Fries
Witch’s butter
_Fruit-body_: width 15-50 mm.
_Description_:
Fruit-body: sessile or shortly stalked, blackish, variable in shape,
rounded, flattened, disc-shaped or convolute, gelatinous with its
under surface tomentose and free from the substrate.
Fruiting surface: uppermost, wavy and folded, and with numerous
wart-like projections.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: long, hyaline, cylindrical, sausage-shaped and 12-15 × 5 µm in
size.
Cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Frequent in crowded groups on stumps, logs
and fallen branches of broad-leaved trees, especially those of ash;
common throughout the year.
_General Information_: _Tremella foliacea_ (S. F. Gray) Persoon and
_Tremella mesenterica_ Hooker are similar but more convoluted with
leaf-like lobes. The former is cinnamon brown and occurs on conifer
wood and its spores are 7-9 × 5-7 µm, whilst the latter is bright
golden yellow or orange-yellow and occurs on broad-leaved trees. _T.
mesenterica_ has spores 7-8 × 5-6 µm, often accompanied or replaced by
small, asexually produced spores.
Glandulosa--means full of glands and refers to the glands of the upper
surface of the Witch’s butter.
The convoluted fruit-body of the _Tremella_ spp. is reflected in the
word foliacea--leafy, and mesenterica--middle intestine. The last
species is also often called the ‘Yellow brain-fungus’.
_Illustrations_: _Exidia glandulosa_--LH 225; NB 149⁴; WD 107³.
_Tremella mesenterica_--LH 225; NB 149⁵; WD 107⁶.
[Illustration: Plate 61. Jelly fungi]
D. THE STOMACH FUNGI
The Gasteromycetes are a complex mixture of higher fungi united in
virtue of their spores being enclosed in a fruit-body and not forcibly
ejected from the basidium; the group includes the puff-balls and their
relatives.
_Key to some groups_
1. Fruit-body growing beneath the surface of the soil (hypogeous)
False truffles (including _Hymenogaster_, _Rhizopogon_)
Fruit-body not growing beneath the soil-surface 2
2. Spores in a slimy mass on a specialised fruit-body arising from an
egg-like structure Stinkhorns (_Phallus_ & _Mutinus_)
Spores powdery at maturity or in small capsules 3
3. Spores powdery at maturity and contained within the fruit-body 4
Spores enclosed in a small capsule or group of capsules in a
cup-like structure, resembling the eggs within the nest of a bird
Bird’s nest fungi (including _Crucibulum_ & _Cyathus_)
4. Spores intermixed with threads within the fruit-body from which
they are dispersed through a specialised pore at its apex
Puff-balls and Earth-stars (_Lycoperdon_ & _Geastrum_)
Spores not mixed with threads within the fruit-body and not
dispersed through special structure but through cracks as the
fruit-body weathers Earth-Balls (_Scleroderma_)
The Gasteromycetes is an unnatural group of predominantly saprophytic
higher fungi many of which are extremely grotesque and strange in their
morphology. Instead of the spores being formed asymmetrically on the
basidium as is found in the agarics, the spores of members of this group
are usually more or less symmetrically attached to their sterigmata or
may even be seated directly (sessile) on the basidium. The whole group,
even if unnatural, can, however, be regarded under one heading as a
biological unit. Until something better is suggested and supported by
evidence the existence of this group is very convenient.
Usually the basidia project into cavities within the fruit-body in which
the spores themselves are released as the fruit-body gradually
matures--hence the name Gastero-mycetes: ‘stomach-fungi’. In a few more
advanced forms, the puff-balls of temperate countries, for instance, the
spores escape from these cavities through a pore or pores in the outer
wall of the fruit-body, and in the stinkhorns the spores are exposed as
a sticky mass because the smell of the material in which they are held
is attractive to flies. In forms which have subterranean (or hypogeous
p. 243) fruit-bodies there is no special opening and here the spores are
dispersed by insects and small mammals. In the bird’s nest fungi the
spores are enclosed in separate packets within a saucer or cup-like open
structure.
Recently it has been shown by examination of the microscopic structure
of the fruit-bodies and spores that certain genera of the Gasteromycetes
are more closely related to the agarics than many of them are between
themselves.
It is believed that some of the Gasteromycetes may have evolved from
more familiar fungi by adaptation to arid or semi-arid conditions.
Although this is not true for all the Gasteromycetes within this one
group of fungi, a whole series of methods of overcoming the
disadvantages connected with non-violent disposal of spores has evolved.
These methods include both changes in structure and ecology; only a few
have evolved a mycorrhizal relationship with higher plants.
~Lycoperdon pyriforme~ Persoon
Stump puff-ball
_Fruit-body_: width 20-50 mm; height 40-75 mm.
_Description_:
Fruit-body: more or less pear-shaped, pale brownish often with a
slight hump on the top, scurfy on the outside with tiny pointed
granules which soon fall off or become rubbed off by abrasion,
particularly after careless handling.
Stem: consisting of rather small cells and connected at the base by
long, white, branched cords of mycelium which permeate the substrate.
Spore-mass: white at first then greenish yellow and finally
olive-brown and formed around a sterile column.
Spores: small, olive, minutely warted but appearing smooth under the
student microscope; 4 µm in diameter and intermixed with long, olive
coloured, branched hyphal threads 4-5 µm broad and of irregular wall
thickness.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This puff-ball grows in huge clusters on
stumps and logs, or can be traced to buried pieces of wood; it occurs
from summer to late autumn.
_General Information_: There are several species of _Lycoperdon_ in
this country, some quite small and several rather infrequent. _L.
pyriforme_ is the only one which grows on wood; ‘pyriforme’ means
pear-shaped and is derived from the shape of the fruit-body.
~L. perlatum~ Persoon is also a common puff-ball; it is pestle-shaped
or top-shaped, whitish or tan with minutely roughened, globose spores
measuring 4 µm in diameter. The fruit-body is covered in a mixture of
large and small, fragile spines which leave a network when rubbed off.
It grows in woods and on heaths.
~L. foetidum~ Bonorden is similar to _L. perlatum_, but the spines are
umber or vandyke-brown; it also grows both in woods and upland
pastures, particularly the latter.
_Illustrations_: _L. pyriforme_--Hvass 316; LH 219; NB 155³; WD 109³.
_L. perlatum_--Hvass 315; LH 217; NB 155²; WD 110².
[Illustration: Plate 62. Puff-balls]
~Langermannia gigantea~ (Persoon) Rostkovius
Giant puff-ball
_Fruit-body_: diameter 300-450 mm (-1,050 mm).
_Description_:
Fruit-body: round or slightly flattened on the top, smooth or cracked
into small scales, white but becoming flushed yellowish with age and
finally olive-brown when old, frequently the outer layer dries and
breaks away to expose the powdery spore-mass within.
Stem: absent or only present as a small cone of tissue.
Spore-mass: whitish, cream-coloured and finally olive-brown.
Spores: small, brownish, minutely warted and spherical, 4-5 µm in
diameter and intermixed with thick-walled, branched, brown hyphae, 3-5
µm broad.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: On the ground in copses, at the edges of
woods, under hedges or on refuse tips, and sometimes in gardens. It
may appear in the same place year after year, and has been recorded
growing beneath the rafters in houses.
_General Information_: When young it is white inside or cream-coloured
before the spores have developed and can then be cut into slices and
cooked. I have seen it on sale in markets in N. America and it is
collected for food by many in Europe. Its pumpkin-shape with a
circumference of anything up to 1,050 mm makes this fungus easily
recognisable. The number of spores produced by a fruit-body measuring
400 × 280 mm has been calculated by A. H. R. Buller as
7,000,000,000,000 spores!
~Calvatia utriformis~ (Fries) Jaap (= _C. caelata_ (Persoon) Morgan)
has a goblet-like shape and a distinct, sterile base composed of large
cells with a prominent membrane separating them from the spore-mass;
the spores are 4-5 µm diameter, smooth and spherical.
~C. excipuliformis~ (Fries) Perdeck (= _C. saccata_ (Vahl.) Morgan) is
pestle-shaped with a well developed stem. The spore-mass is composed
of warted, globose spores, 4-5 µm in diameter.