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Wildlife of the Bollin Valley
What to Look Out for in September and October
Fungi: Friend, Foes or Fatal?
Fungi don’t belong in the animal kingdom, but neither are they included with the plants – they lack chlorophyll, the green pigment plants use to harness the sun’s energy to make their food. Fungi are classed as a separate Kingdom.
What we think of as fungi – mushrooms, toadstools, moulds, rusts etc. – are in fact just the tip of the iceberg. They are the fruiting bodies which erupt, often in autumn, to spread the fungus.
The main body of the fungus is the mycelium or thread like hyphae spreading within the food source. Whereas animals take in food to digest in the gut, fungi secrete enzymes into the food around them and absorb the “soup” produced. Many fungi are saprophytes which, by feeding on dead and decaying plant and animal remains, help to recycle nutrients.
Fly Agaric
Some are symbiotic, such as the Fly Agaric.
It is particularly associated with birches. Its hyphae penetrate the roots and take food from them, but in return concentrate valuable minerals for the tree.
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The remaining fungi are parasites which damage their living host e.g. such gardener’s foes as rusts, botrytis, blights, mildew and leaf curls.
Alder Leaf Curl
Alder Leaf Curl crumples and discolours its leaves and closely related species create “witches brooms” on other trees.
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Tar Spot Fungus
Tar Spot Fungus affects Sycamores in summer and Brambles suffer a rust causing purple or crimson spots.
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Death Cap
Many fungi are edible but beware, some really are deadly, such as the Death Cap. Apart from white gills and spores, it can look alluringly like the edible field mushroom to untrained eyes.
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Antabuse Ink Cap
Antabuse Ink Cap is edible but causes sickness if taken with alcohol; it contains a substance identical to a drug used to treat chronic alcoholics. So learn from an expert before you experiment! |
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Jews Ear
Many fungi have colourful common names. Jews Ear is a lobed, brown or liver-coloured jelly fungus, common on dead elder.
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King Alfred’s Cakes
People gathered Cramp Balls from dead Ash as a rheumatism cure but they also resemble burnt cakes, so they are alternatively called King Alfred’s Cakes.
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Orange Peel Cup
The aptly named Orange Peel Cup is common on woodland tracks, verges and in gardens. It may eject puffs of spores if touched.
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Bracket
Varicoloured Bracket, is a polypore with pores not gills, it is sometimes used decoratively: its felty surface has concentric coloured rings.
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