Fungi, Lichen & Bryophytes. Stanmer Great Wood. 31.10.22

Sim Elliott
Nov 1, 2022
6 min read

Updated: Nov 2, 2022

I returned to Stanmer Great Wood on Monday, after my journey there on Friday 28.10.22

Stanmer Great Wood is on the north-east of Brighton. It can be reached very easily by the 25 bus which is very frequent.; see: 25 - Universities-Old Steine | Brighton & Hove Buses

The identifications I have made of these fungi may be wrong! I am very new to fungi identification. I have used Buczacki, Shields & Ovenden (2012) Collins Fungi Guide Collins Fungi Guide : The Most Complete Field Guide to the Mushrooms & Toadstools of Britain & Ireland: Stefan Buczacki: 9780007466481: hive.co.uk. This post is a work in progress: some of the fungi identifications are very tentative, and a few species I have not been able to identify at all yet; I will update this post as I learn more!

I have also used the Obsidentify App Mission - Observation.org

I have written a separate post on the fungi on one tree and its fungus that I saw on this trip, see: A community of fungi and bryophytes in a dead Beech tree, Stanmer Great Wood, 31.10.22 (simelliott.net)

Parmotrema perlatum (a lichen)

King Alfred's Cake, Daldinia conentrica

Mountain fern moss, Hylocomium speldens

Not yet identified

King Alfred's Cakes

Fenugreek Stalkball, Phleogena faginea

Phleogena faginea is a bizarre little mushroom. This tiny grey-brown mushroom grows on wood or bark, making it rather difficult to spot. Even when you do find it, you’d probably think it’s a slime mold ...): the fruitbody features a round head on a small stalk, much like many slime molds. Despite that similarity, P. faginea is a basidiomycete and its closest relatives are the rust fungi ... – something you probably wouldn’t guess by looking at the mushroom. P. faginea goes by the common name of “Fenugreek Stalkball,” which is a reference to its shape (ball on a stalk) and fenugreek or curry-like odor when dried #233: Phleogena faginea – Fungus Fact Friday

Gloeoporus dichrous

This interesting little polypore is a decomposer of hardwood logs ...Viewed from above, its creamy to white cap is a bit boring--but its striking underside features an unexpected brown to reddish brown pore surface. ..

Ecology: Saprobic [decomposing] on the deadwood of hardwoods and, rarely, conifers; sometimes reported on the decaying fruiting bodies of other dead polypores (including Inonotus dryophilus and Ganoderma applanatum); causing a white rot; usually growing gregariously; annual; spring through fall (and over winter in warm climates); ...

Cap: Often present and fairly well developed, but sometimes absent or present merely as a turned-over edge above the pore surface; shelf-like and fused laterally with other caps, or kidney-shaped to semicircular; up to about 6 cm wide individually; velvety to finely hairy or nearly bald when mature; with or without concentric zones of texture; creamy to white.

Pore Surface: Reddish brown to orange-brown when young, becoming browner with age (and purplish brown when dried); with concentric bands of color shades; often covered with a whitish bloom; with 4-6 round to angular pores per mm; tubes up to about 1 mm deep, gelatinous to rubbery, separable as a layer when fresh. Gloeoporus dichrous (MushroomExpert.Com)

Not yet idenitfied

Path through the wood

Ancient Yew

Bleeding Oak Crust, Stereum gausapatum. This fungus initially grows in circular crusts and can then develop small overlapping brackets. It is ochre-brown with a pale margin and very leathery. It 'bleeds' red when cut. Bleeding Oak Crust | NatureSpot

Yet to be identified

Pluteus cervinus, Deer Shield

Pluteus cervinus, the Deer Shield, was for many years commonly known as the Fawn Pluteus. In most parts of Britain and Ireland this is by far the most common of the shield fungi, most of which are very infrequent or rare finds...

In common with other mushrooms of the Pluteus genus, the Deer Shield is a wood-rotting fungus that occurs mainly on hardwood stumps. This fungus can appear at any time from late spring through to late autumn. Pluteus cervinus, Deer Shield mushroom (first-nature.com)

and Coprinellus domesticus

Coprinellus domesticus - Firerug Inkcap

Similar to the Fairy Inkcap (also known as the Trooping Inkcap) Coprinellus disseminatus, but larger and often with an orange shaggy carpet, known as 'ozonium', growing on the surface of the substrate around the stem bases, the Firerug Inkcap is one of several similar species that require careful study to confirm their identities. The ozonium is a very helpful clue, but it is not always present; however, ozonium is much longer lasting that the inkcap fruitbodies, and so it is often found where there is no evidence of the mushrooms themselves. Coprinellus domesticus, Firerug Inkcap mushroom (first-nature.com)

Turkeytail, Tremetes versicolor

underside

Candlesnuff, Xylaria hypoxylon

The candlesnuff fungus, also known as the 'Stag's Horn', has an erect, simple or forked fruiting body with a downy stalk. It grows in groups on dead and rotting wood, and can be found on stumps and branches of all sorts of trees. Fungi belong to their own kingdom and get their nutrients and energy from organic matter, rather than photosynthesis like plants. It is often just the fruiting bodies, or 'mushrooms', that are visible to us, arising from an unseen network of tiny filaments called 'hyphae'. These fruiting bodies produce spores for reproduction, although fungi can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation. Candlesnuff fungus | The Wildlife Trusts

Crystal Brain Fungus, Exidia nucleata

Exidia nucleata is a fairly common (at least in Britain and Ireland) species of jelly fungus; it appears on rotting hardwood, and particularly beech. In dry weather this fungus shrinks and becomes quite hard, so you really need wet weather to find this fungus: during dry spells it shrivels up almost completely to leave just a transparent rubbery patch on the host wood.

Autumn and winter are the best times to look for this jelly fungus. https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/exidia-nucleata.php

Smoky Bracket, Bjerkandera adusta

A very variable small-pored fungus, the Smoky Bracket can occur either as a resupinate crust on the underside of a fallen branch, as a reflexed bracket on the side of dead hardwood (or very occasionally on conifer wood), or even as a rounded cap with a short stem (see small image in the 'Identification' section, below) when growing on the upper surface of dead wood. Despite its shape-shifting capability, this crust fungus is recognisable by its grey fertile surface. Bjerkandera adusta, Smoky Bracket fungus (first-nature.com)

underside

Lumpy Bracket, Trametes gibbosa

Hairy Curtain Crust, Stereum hirsutum

No matter how many of these attractive bracket fungi you see, there will always be another Stereum hirsutum with significantly different coloration. The variability of this fungus makes its identification at first rather difficult. Stereum hirsutum, Hairy Curtain Crust fungus (first-nature.com)

Pile of logs on which there were many Candlesnuff fungi

Candelsnuff

More Stereum hirsutum

To be identified

More Stereum hirsutum

Path through the wood

The Fairy Inkcap, Coprinellus disseminatus

The Fairy Inkcap, Coprinellus disseminatus, rarely ventures forth alone or even with just a few friends; more often it forms dense masses swarming over rotting tree stumps and roots.

These gregarious little fungi occur from early spring until the onset of winter, and they are at their most spectacular when the caps are young and pale - sometimes nearly pure white. It takes just two or three days for young white caps to turn grey and then begin blackening.

Distribution

Common in Britain and Ireland and throughout Europe and North America, the Fairy Inkcap is truly a cosmopolitan mushroom, being found also in most parts of Asia and in South America and Australia. Coprinellus disseminatus usually appears in very large trooping groups on stumps in woodland and occasionally in shaded hedgerows. Coprinellus disseminatus, Fairy Inkcap mushroom (first-nature.com)

Glistening Inkap, Coprinellus micaceus

From tree stumps or buried wood of broadleaf trees, Coprinus micaceus, formerly known as the Mica Inkcap but now called the Glistening Inkcap, arises in small to medium-sized clumps from spring until early winter. This edible mushroom is potentially poisonous if collected from roadsides or polluted land, where the mycellium can bioaccumulate heavy metals such as cadmium and lead; this results in the mushrooms containing high concentrations of these toxins.

Distribution

Common in Britain and Ireland and throughout Europe and North America, the Glistening Inkcap is truly a cosmopolitan mushroom, being found also in most parts of Asia and in South America and Australia. Coprinellus micaceus usually appears in quite large clusters and very rarely as solitary specimens.

Etymology: The generic name Coprinellus indicates that this mushrooms genus appears to be (or was thought to be) similar to fungi in the genus Coprinus, which literally means 'living on dung' - that's true of quite a few of the inkcaps but not particularly apt for this and several other Coprinellus species. The suffix -ellus indicates fungi that produce rather smaller fruitbodies than those of Coprinus species. The specific epithet micaceus means 'similar to grains of salt (or mica)' and refers to the tiny granules (veil fragments) that glisten like specks of mica on the surfaces of immature caps. In wet weather these granules are sometimes washed away so that the surfaces mature caps become entirely smooth rather than granular. Coprinellus micaceus, Glistening Inkcap mushroom (first-nature.com)

More Fairy Inkaps

More Fairy Inkcaps at the base of this tree stump

Close up

To be identified

More Coprinellus micaceus

To be identified

Agaricus sp.

Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa ?

Glistening Inkcap, Coprinellus micaceus.

Pear-shaped Puffball, Apioperdon pyriforme formerly Lycoperdron pyriforme

Walking though the wood

To be identified

Formes fomentarius, Hoof Fungus

Tinder Fungus and Hoof Fungus are two common names for the persistent, tough polypore Fomes fomentarius. This large bracket fungus attacks mainly birch but occasionally beech and sycamore. The pale leather-brown flesh was used for lighting fires (it burns very slowly); for this reason it was given the name Tinder Fungus. Fomes fomentarius, Hoof Fungus / Tinder Fungus (first-nature.com)