but then fibrillose.
Stem: silvery grey to grey-sepia and silky fibrillose.
Gills: greyish pink.
Spore-print: greyish pink.
Spores: very long, wavy angular in outline, very pale honey under the
microscope and 14-20 × 7-9 µm.
Marginal cystidia: club-shaped or balloon-shaped and hyaline.
Facial cystidia: absent.
So very different to other species of _Leptonia_ is it that it should
be classified in Dr. Pilát’s genus _Pouzaromyces_.
~Conocybe mairei~ Watling
_Cap_: width 5-10 mm. _Stem_: width 1 mm; length 10-40 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: pale to deep ochraceous or buff, minutely tomentose.
Stem: flexuous, whitish or very pale ochraceous.
Gills: pale buff then ochraceous.
Spore-print: ochraceous.
Spores: medium sized, ellipsoid or slightly almond-shaped with small
germ-pore and 6-8 × 3-4 µm in size.
~Flammulaster granulosa~ (J. Lange) Watling
_Cap_: 4-15 mm. _Stem_: width 1 mm; length 10-25 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: ochraceous to date-brown, darker at the centre and granular scaly
throughout.
Stem: similarly coloured to the cap and similarly roughened, except
for the slightly smoother paler apex.
Spores: ellipsoid to almond-shaped, very pale brown under the
microscope and 8-10 × 4-5 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: cylindric-wavy, hyaline.
Facial cystidia: absent.
Depending on the herbaceous constituents the fungus-flora will vary.
Certain species are found on all sorts of herbaceous debris, but
others are much more specific to their substrate preferences. Beds of
Butterbur, Coltsfoot or Impatiens are also good hunting places, as are
beds of sedges in fenland. In many of these localities agarics with
reduced fruit-bodies looking like disc-fungi are frequently seen. We
have already discussed the specific requirements of certain species of
_Marasmius_ (see p. 92).
[Illustration: Plate 76. Fungi of alder-carrs and from under herbaceous
plants]
(v) Fungi of moss-cushions
Many small species grow amongst moss cushions on tree trunks, tucked in
crevices in walls or on the tops of old buildings. However, there is one
genus of agarics, i.e. Galerina which is probably more typical than any
other of such situations. There are many members of this genus whose
small caps are found in the autumn pushing up through the moss plants.
Plate 78.
~Galerina hypnorum~ (Fries) Kühner
_Cap_: width 4-6 mm. _Stem_: width 1 mm; length 20-40 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: hemispherical or bell-shaped, hygrophanous, orange-yellow,
sand-colour, smooth and striate almost to the cap-centre.
Stem: smooth and similarly coloured to the cap.
Gills: yellow-tawny then rust-coloured, adnate emarginate, rather
broad and somewhat distant.
Flesh: thin, yellow-tawny and with a smell of new meal.
Spore-print: rust-colour.
Spores: medium-sized, almond-shaped, golden yellow under the
microscope, slightly roughened and 10-11 × 6-7 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: flask-shaped or cylindrical with slight swelling at
the apex.
Facial cystidia: absent.
~Galerina mycenopsis~ (Fries) Kühner
_Cap_: width 6-15 mm. _Stem_: width 1 mm; length 30-60 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: similarly coloured to _G. hypnorum_, but with a few white silky
fibrils.
Stem: coloured as the cap, but with white silky fibrils when young.
Gills and flesh: as in _G. hypnorum_, but it has no smell.
Spore-print: rust-colour.
Spores: medium-sized, ellipsoid, pale golden yellow under the
microscope, smooth and 9-11 × 5-6 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: club-shaped, cylindrical and with distinct rounded
heads.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_General Information_: _G. mniophila_ (Lasch) Kühner is similar to or
slightly larger than _C. mycenopsis_, but differs in its dull
honey-coloured cap and stem, and distinctly roughened spores. _G.
calyptrata_ P. D. Orton is small and has been long confused with _G.
hypnorum_; it, however, is of a much brighter orange-colour, with
distinct white fibrils on the cap and has spores which have a distinct
envelope, sometimes separating as a loose covering. _G. vittaeformis_
(Fries) Moser is a red-brown fungus with 2-spored basidia, facial
cystidia, minutely hairy stem, and very rough spores; it grows in moss
in pastures as well as on moss-cushions.
(vi) Heath and mountain fungi
(a) Moorland fungi
~Marasmius androsaceus~ (Fries) Fries
Horse-hair toadstool
_Cap_: width 5-15 mm. _Stem_: width 1 mm; length 30-60 mm.
_Description_: Plate 77.
Cap: whitish to pale smoke-brown with a distinct wine-coloured tinge,
membranous, flattened, or umbilicate and radially wrinkled.
Stem: thread-like, black or very dark brown, horny and usually
springing from a black horse-hair-like mycelium.
Gills: whitish or dirty flesh-colour, adnate and crowded.
Flesh: white in the pileus and black in the stem.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: medium-sized, pip-shaped, not blueing in solutions containing
iodine and measuring 7-9 × 3-4 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: oval or ellipsoid, covered on the upper half with
small pimple-like projections.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_General Information_: This fungus is common in troops from late
summer until winter on dead and dying heather. It is also found in
woods on leaves and twigs, particularly in plantations on conifer
needles. It is easily recognised by the dark horse-hair-like stem
which becomes bent and twisted on drying and the small, pinkish
flesh-coloured cap. The word _androsaceus_ means, and refers to, the
stem which resembles the tough and wiry fronds of some of the red
algae, such as _Ahnfeldtia_ which is found around our sea-shores.
_Illustrations_: LH 115; NB 47¹; WD 24⁴.
~Omphalina ericetorum~ (Fries) M. Lange
_Cap_: width 5-20 mm. _Stem_: width 2 mm; length 10-20 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: variable in colour, straw-colour, cream-colour, bistre or grey,
convex then flat or slightly depressed, radially grooved to the centre
when moist; the margin is scalloped.
Stem: slender, similarly coloured to the cap, except for a brownish
wine-coloured zone at the very apex, thickened upwards and smooth with
a white and woolly base.
Gills: adnate to decurrent, white then cream-colour or yellowish,
triangular in shape, very distant and often connected by veins.
Flesh: pale cream-colour.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: medium sized, hyaline under the microscope, broadly ellipsoid,
or pip-shaped, not becoming bluish grey in solutions of iodine, 8-10 ×
5 µm in size.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_General Information_: This fungus is common and often in large troops
on peaty ground in woods as well as in moorland and mountain regions.
In mountains _O. ericetorum_ must be carefully distinguished from some
of the truly mountain species of _Omphalina_ dealt with on p. 236. _O.
wynniae_ (Berkeley & Broome) P. D. Orton is similar but pale
lemon-yellow and is found on stumps of conifers. The word _ericetorum_
refers to the habit of growing on heaths--_Erica_ is the Latin name
for heath. In many books this same fungus is called _O. umbellifera_
which reflects the shape of the cap--umbrella shaped.
_Illustrations_: Hvass 116; LH 99; NB 85⁷; WD 29⁹.
~Entoloma helodes~ (Fries) Kummer
_Cap_: width 25-75 mm. _Stem_: width 2-6 mm; length 25-55 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: finely or minutely velvety at centre, fibrillose or white silky
as if frosted towards the margin, sepia or bistre, or mouse-grey,
dull-coloured but with a hint of violaceous brown.
Stem: equal or slightly thickened at the apex, sometimes club-shaped,
thickened at the base, greyish brown and pale cream-colour at the
base.
Flesh: dark sepia in the cap, whitish in the stem and smelling
strongly of meal.
[Illustration: Plate 77. Moorland fungi]
Gills: white or whitish at first then dirty pinkish brown, adnate and
emarginate.
Spore-print: dull salmon-pink.
Spores: medium to long, angular, ellipsoid-oblong, slightly
cinnamon-colour under the microscope and 9-12 × 7-8 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: conspicuous, spindle or bottle-shaped and with
subcapitate apex.
Facial cystidia: absent.
~Hypholoma ericaeum~ (Fries) Kühner
_Cap_: width 15-30 mm. _Stem_: width 4-7 mm; length 50-100 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: fleshy, convex, later becoming flattened but remaining slightly
umbonate at the centre, viscid at first, smooth and shining when dry,
bright reddish to sand-colour or brown.
Stem: slender, yellow above, brown below, smooth and tough.
Gills: adnate or adnexed, purplish black with a whitish margin and
fairly crowded.
Flesh: yellowish or red-brown in the stem.
Spore-print: purple-brown.
Spores: long, dark purple-brown, broadly ellipsoid and 12-15 × 7-9 µm
in size.
Marginal cystidia: cylindrical or flask-shaped.
Facial cystidia: flask-shaped and filled with contents which become
yellowish in solutions containing ammonia.
~Clavaria argillacea~ (Persoon) Fries
_Fruit-body_: height 20-60 mm.
_Description_:
Fruit-body: club-shaped, blunt or rounded at the apex, cylindrical or
compressed and often grooved, yellow ochraceous or buff.
Stem: distinct but short and yellowish.
Flesh: yellowish.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: medium-sized, hyaline under the microscope, smooth and 10-11 ×
5-6 µm in size.
All these three species are typical of bare peaty soil, or moss
covered peat amongst or around Heather or Ling (_Calluna vulgaris_)
bushes.
[Illustration: Plate 78. Moorland, moss-cushion and mountain fungi]
(b) Mountain fungi and the so-called Basidiolichens
‘Basidiolichens.’ Plate 78.
_Omphalina ericetorum_ (Fries) M. Lange has already been described (p.
232): it grows on acidic soils and ascends into mountain areas where
it frequently grows on algal scum which accumulates around _Sphagnum_
plants.
Under these conditions the algal cells enter the base of the fungus
and grow in the cavity of the stem and amongst those hyphae which
constitute the base. This association, however, appears to be much
closer in the two lichens _Coriscium viride_ (Acharius) Vain and
_Botrydina vulgaris_ Meneghini which have long been classified as
species of lichen of unknown affinity because no perfect state was
known. _Coriscium viride_ consists of blue-green overlapping plates or
scales with narrow rounded often paler margins and which dry out
greenish brownish grey. _Botrydina vulgaris_, in contrast, consists of
dark green, gelatinous blobs drying out greenish brown.
_Coriscium_ is now considered to be an association of an algae and a
Basidiomycete, the latter being the agaric, _Omphalina hudsoniana_
(Jennings) Bigelow, which resembles _O. ericetorum_ but for the
pinkish coloured stem. _Botrydina_ may be a complex of several
separate associations of an algae with different species of
_Omphalina_. In the high mountains the association is with _O.
luteovitellina_ (Pilát & Nannfeldt) M. Lange a small uniformly bright
yellow agaric, whilst in _Sphagnum_ bogs it is with _O. sphagnicola_
(Berkeley) Moser. _Myxomphalia maura_ (Fries) Hora, a fungus typical
of burnt ground, is also reported to take up this association in
lowland woods and _O. velutina_ (Quélet) Quélet appears to be capable
of forming a loose relationship with algal cells also. This is a most
interesting association and research work is still at an early stage.
In the tropics and subtropical regions of the world, similar
associations are found on rotten and decomposing trunks and stumps. In
these examples the _Basidiomycetes_ are frequently fairy-clubs,
particularly species of _Multiclavula_ (‘many small clubs’). A few
species of this genus may be found also in North temperate woodlands.
_Botrydina_ also grows in Europe with _Stereum fasciatum_ (Schw.)
Fries and _Athelia viride_ (Bres.) Parm. (see p. 176), and _Odontia
bicolor_ (Fries) Quélet is rarely collected without green algal cells
buried in the thallus. Perhaps associations like this are much
commoner than at first supposed. Probably the most remarkable of this
group of poorly known organisms is _Cora pavonia_ (Sw.) Fries which
produces masses of interlocking fans; it is tropical and found in
Brazil.
Mountain fungi: general remarks
There are several groups of mountain fungi, some mycorrhizal formers,
some which prefer peaty soil and some which are associated with algae
forming a loose relationship--the Basidiolichens. When the mountain top
is covered with such dwarf willows as _Salix herbacea_ or _S.
reticulata_ the leaves are cast each year, woody tissue develops above
and below the ground; in fact all the processes taking place in our
familiar woodlands are also taking place in these communities, the only
difference being that the trees are dwarf. Indeed it looks quite odd to
see normal sized agarics growing amongst the woody stalks of dwarf
trees, the leaves of which are often one-tenth the size of the
fruit-bodies, but this is what happens.
The mycorrhizal formers in these conditions include species of _Russula_
(e.g. _Russula alpina_ Möller & Schaeffer, _R. xerampelina_ var.
_pascua_ Favre (see p. 45)), _Lactarius_ (e.g. _Lactarius lacunarum_
Hora see p. 50), _Cortinarius_ (e.g. _C. anomalus_ (Fries) Fries see p.
42) and _Amanita_ (e.g. _Amanita nivalis_ Greville see p. 56).
Subterranean fungi are also found, e.g. _Elaphomyces_ see p. 244, and,
just as woodlands, valley bottoms have a saprophytic ground flora of
toadstools so do the high mountain ‘woods’, and many familiar fungi of
the lowerland areas are to be found there also, e.g. _Mycena
epipterygia_ (Fries) S. F. Gray, _Mycena olivaceo-marginata_ (Massee)
Massee (see p. 88.)
The barer tops of the mountains, where large areas of moss are only to
be found, support species of _Hygrocybe_, e.g. _H. lilacina_
(Laestadius) Moser and _H. subviolacea_ (Peck) P. D. Orton & Watling
(see p. 97).
In the moist atmosphere on the hills in western Scotland, woodland-like
floras containing familiar flowering plants are found on the mountain
sides often much higher than in central Scotland. It is in such
communities that typical woodland fungi are also to be found, e.g.
_Nolanea cetrata_ (Fries) Kummer (see p. 101).
(vii) Sand-dune fungi
~Inocybe dunensis~ P. D. Orton
_Cap_: width 27-75 mm. _Stem_: width 4-10 mm; length 35-80 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: convex then expanded, usually broadly umbonate, pale or dirty
ochraceous paler at the margin, reddish brown at the centre, smooth,
radially fibrillose towards the margin and sometimes showing the
remains of a pale greyish buff veil.
Stem: equal with marginate or rounded bulb at the base, white or
whitish, then becoming discoloured pinkish or brownish, powdered with
white, at first, but finally silky.
Gills: free or narrowly adnate, subcrowded, whitish then clay-buff,
finally snuff-brown with whitish edge.
Flesh: white or whitish, tinted ochraceous or dirty pinkish and with
strong smell of rancid oil.
Spore-print: snuff-brown.
Spores: medium to long, ellipsoid-oblong, indistinctly nodulose or
wavy-angular and 9-12 × 6-7 µm in size.
Facial cystidia: swollen, spindle-shaped with short, broad neck,
thick-walled and crested with crystals.
Marginal cystidia: spindle-shaped and crested with crystals.
_General Information_: This fungus is often buried to half-way in the
sand of slacks near dwarf willows (_Salix_ spp.). Three other species
of _Inocybe_ grow in dune-slacks _I. halophila_ Heim, _I. serotina_
Peck and _I. devoniensis_ P. D. Orton, but all differ in their spores
being smooth and elongate-cylindric. _Astrosporina_, a name referring
to the shape of the spore, has been considered a genus of agarics in
its own right and to this group _I. dunensis_ would belong. However,
as the members show the same range of characters as those species with
the smooth spores it seems unnecessary to split _Inocybe_ into two.
The cystidia in many species are unusual, being crested with a bundle
of crystals which have been reported as being calcium oxalate,
although even the simplest school-laboratory tests have been rarely
applied to them (see p. 84).
[Illustration: Plate 79. Sand-dune fungi]
~Psathyrella ammophila~ (Durieu & Léville) P. D. Orton
Sand-dune brittle-cap
_Cap_: width 20-40 mm. _Stem_: width 4-8 mm; length 40-80 mm.
_Description_: Plate 79.
Cap: semiglobate to convex, pale dingy clay-colour or dark tan to
dirty brownish, non-striate, rather fleshy and usually sand covered.
Stem: deeply rooting in sand and club-shaped towards the base,
similarly coloured to the cap except for the whitish apex.
Gills: adnate, subfuscous or dark dirt-brown.
Flesh: dirty buff and with no distinct smell.
Spore-print: pale snuff-brown with purplish flush.
Spores: long, ovoid, yellowish-grey brown under the microscope with a
distinct germ-pore and 10-12 × 7 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: balloon-shaped, obtuse or somewhat bottle-shaped
and hyaline.
Facial cystidia: sparse, similar to the marginal cystidia, voluminous.
_General Information_: This is a very distinct fungus found amongst
stems of Marram grass in sand-dune systems. At first sight it appears
as if it is growing in the bare sand, but by careful excavation it
usually is found attached to pieces of Marram grass, indeed the hyphae
enter the roots of the grass, but apparently do not kill them.
This fungus was first described in the genus _Psilocybe_ (see p. 114)
because of its brownish purple spore-print, but the cap-surface is
composed of rounded cells and so is related to all the other species
of _Psathyrella_.
_Psathyrella flexispora_ Wallace & P. D. Orton grows in similar
habitats amongst _Ammophila_ and other seashore grasses. It is easily
recognised by the chocolate, umber or date-brown cap and the peculiar
shaped spores, which look as if they have been slightly twisted during
their development.
~Stropharia coronilla~ (Fries) Quélet, resembling a little mushroom
(i.e. _Agaricus_) is also found in sand-dune systems and, just as
species of _Psathyrella_, it possesses purplish black spores. However,
the cap is ochraceous yellow with a whitish margin formed of veil
fragments. The stem is white becoming yellow with age and possesses a
narrow, white striate ring. The spores are ellipsoid and measure 8-9 ×
4-5 µm and it has filamentous cells in the cap. Unlike _P. ammophila_
it is not confined to sand-dune systems but it is also to be found in
pastures and on heaths.
[Illustration: Plate 80. Sand-dune fungi]
~Conocybe dunensis~ P. D. Orton
Sand-dune brown cone cap.
_Cap_: width 10-30 mm. _Stem_: width 2-4 mm; length 40-100 mm.
_Description_: Plate 80.
Cap: conical then conico-expanded, date-brown, dull sand-colour or
dark liver-colour, drying buff or ochraceous, expallent, not or
indistinctly striate when moist.
Stem: whitish or pale ochraceous then darker ochraceous or dirty
brownish from the base up, lower part whitish and buried in the sand.
Flesh: thin and pale ochraceous.
Gills: adnate, whitish but soon pale honey and finally rusty honey.
Spore-print: rust-brown.
Spores: long, ellipsoid or slightly amygdaliform, golden brown under
the microscope with large germ-pore and 12-14 × 7-8 µm in size.
Facial cystidia: absent.
Marginal cystidia: capitate.
_General Information_: _C. dunensis_ differs from _C. tenera_ in its
dull colours (see p. 116) and habitat preferences. _Conocybe
dunensis_, _Stropharia coronilla_, the two species of _Psathyrella_
are all dull-coloured. However, in the sand-dunes colourful agarics
are also found. The most common is _Hygrocybe conicoides_ (P. D.
Orton) Orton & Watling; _Laccaria maritima_ (Theodowicz) Moser is
indeed an unusual but rewarding find. ‘Lac’ as in _Laccaria_ is a
red-brown resinous substrate produced by the lac-insect and resembles
the cap colour of many species of the genus, including _L. maritima_,
_L. laccata_ and _L. proxima_ (see p. 86). All these fungi were
formerly placed in _Clitocybe_, but they differ in the warted or spiny
spores which at maturity give the rather thick gills the appearance of
being heavily talced. _L. maritima_ can be distinguished from all
other species of Laccaria by the elongated spores which are minutely
spiny and not strongly warted as in _L. laccata_. _Hygrocybe
conicoides_ (P. D. Orton) Orton & Watling has a conical to
conico-convex, acutely umbonate cap with wavy-lobed margin; it is
scarlet or cherry-red, discolouring blackish with age or on bruising.
The gills are at first chrome-yellow then become flushed red and the
stem is yellow or greenish lemon becoming streaky blackish after
handling. The spores are 10-13 × 4-5 µm in size and slightly French
bean-shaped. It can be readily distinguished from close relatives,
e.g. _H. conica_ (Fries) Kummer by the gills soon turning reddish, the
reddish cap and the narrow spores.
(viii) Subterranean fungi
_General notes_
The adaptive habit of growing completely submerged beneath the surface
of the ground has developed in all the major groups of fungi. Thus the
simplest form related to the common bread-mould have taken up the
character just as certain relatives of the disc-fungi (discomycetes) and
of the flask-fungi (pyrenomycetes). In the higher fungi in several
foreign countries even agarics, polypores and stinkhorns have become
hypogeous, but in this country we have a very depauparate flora composed
of some twenty-eight species of false (Basidiomycete) truffle. The
following key may assist in identifying the different groups of
hypogeous fungi for some of these species are of commercial value and
includes the French or Perigord truffle, _Tuber melanospermum_ Vittadini
which is used as a constituent of Pâté de Foie Gras, and many of the
fungi used as poor quality substitutes. There is a long folk-history
surrounding truffles and they have been utilised in the production of
aphrodisiacs for centuries. Seeking them out was a difficulty and has
been overcome in different countries in different ways. Thus in
continental Europe, pigs have been used to sniff them out but on finding
them the pigs cannot eat the truffles because of a ring placed through
their nose. In Dorset a particular breed of dog was developed to do the
same job--the Dorset hounds.
A simple key would read as follows:--
1. Spores produced on basidia 2
Spores produced in asci 4
2. Chambers throughout the inner tissue containing spores of
approximately the same age 3
Chambers in the inner tissues containing spores found at different
stages of development _Hymenogaster_
3. Basidiospores brown or greenish brown under the microscope, and
black in mass _Melanogaster_
Basidiospores colourless or pale honey colour under the microscope
and ochraceous in mass _Rhizopogon_
4. Asci globose, irregularly arranged within the fruit-body and
quickly breaking down to shed the spores _Elaphomyces_
Asci globose or club-shaped and arranged in fertile areas which
do not rapidly break down to shed the spores _Tuber_ & relatives
Basidiomycetes
~Rhizopogon roseolus~ (Corda) Fries
Red truffle
_Description_:
Fruit-body: globular to tubiform and up to 60 mm broad, partly covered
in mycelial cords, dirty white, later reddish-tawny gradually reddish
and finally olive-brown, it soon becomes tawny on bruising when fresh
and young.
Spores: medium sized, narrowly ellipsoid, smooth at first, hyaline
then pale olive under the microscope and measuring 8-11 × 4 µm.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus is not uncommon on the edges
of paths, in pine woods just pushing up through the soil surface.
Ascomycetes
~Elaphomyces granulatus~ Fries
Harts’ truffle
_Description_:
Fruit-body: globose to ovoid, 20-40 mm broad, pale ochraceous, covered
in small pyramidal warts, and when it is cut it shows three layers, an
outer thin yellowish zone, an inner thicker compact white zone and
within this a purplish black area full of spores separated into
chambers by bands of sterile white tissue; the first two zones make up
the ‘rind’.