To look at my hand written notes, with more photographs and spore prints, click on the highlighted names of the fungi.
Slime molds are included after Fungi P – Z.
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A
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Abortiporus biennis Blushing rosette. A tiered series of narrow fan shaped growths that begin yellowish and redden with age while retaining a white edge for a long time. Growing on the ground on roots or on woodchips.
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Acrostalagmus luteoalbus. Growing on old Daldinia, whitish, salmon pink to orange, each about 2mm across. Found in December and lasted through the coldest of winters.
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Agaricus arvensis, Horse Mushroom. This can get quite large. Whitish with a double ring on the stem, the lower ring breaking into cogwheel splits, (can sometimes be seen with a mirror).
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Agaricus augustus, The Prince. Can be quite large. The pale cap is scattered with rusty coloured scales which coalesce in the center making a brown patch. The stem has a large floppy ring.
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Agaricus bisporus, cultivated mushroom, wild form. This is the grocer bought, standard mushroom with scales on the cap. It grew once when mushroom growing medium was brought into the cemetery.
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Agaricus bisporus var albidus. Only one group of white caps found found. The caps were not in great condition and varied from the ideal eg the ring was floccose instead of merely fibrous. This still seems the best fit.
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Agaricus campestris, Field mushroom. The new pristine cap is white but it ages and browns. The ring tends to be ragged. Not big, up to 10cms across in the books, but up to 5 found.
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Agaricus comtulus, A tinyand neat cap found on grass lawns, the recorded one is 3.2cms across. White with red/brown flush.
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Agaricus langei, Scaly Wood Mushroom. I don’t have good information on this species just one dry cap. The cap surface had brown scales which were dense in the center and left a light coloured edge. This seems the best fit for the cap.
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Agaricus moelleri, Inky Mushroom. This tends to be a smallish neat mushroom. The edges of the cap and the ring noticeably form two horizontals that sit below each other. The cap is an even dome shape and has brown scales that are most dense in the center where they coalesce to form a brown middle. The ring has large scales on the underside that form almost a double ring. The top of the horizontal ring becomes covered with the brown spores so only the edge is visible in shade. It grows in groups.
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Agaricus osecanus. This is white, sometimes with scales over the cap when young, chunky, ring on stem with a cogwheel shape in the under side of the ring, and yellows very slowly. There are also reddish tomes in the base of the stem when it is cut, and the colour in the otherwise white flesh didn’t change after cutting. A change of name is possible at the end of 2012.
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Agaricus silvaticus, Blushing Wood Mushroom. Again, I don’t have good information on this species. The caps found were covered to the edge with red/brown scales, sometimes so small they weren’t easy to see.
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Agaricus subperonatus. Only one cap found and with bad insect damage. Does not conform exactly to the books, eg the smell is worse (possibly through insect damage) and the cap scales are more pronounced. This does seem to be the best fit for an identification though.
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Agaricus xanthodermus, Yellow Stainer. This can be the largest cap found in Abney. It is whitish and obvious. The cap under normal weather conditions will show some yellow colouration of a thumb nail scratching the cap. This is more obvious in the base of the stem which becomes vivid yellow when scratched. This colour then slowly fades over hours.
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Agrocybe cylindracea, Poplar Fieldcap. Growingin groups on wood in almost any season. Some groups can be large, easily more then 50 caps, and can be on tree trunks at branch level or on dead trunks or large branches on the ground.
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Agrocybe erebia. Dark fieldcap. Found only once. Dark brown cap with a paler margin. Glossy and smooth when dry, viscid when wet.
Agrocybe molesta. Bearded Fieldcap. Was Agrocybe dura. Lumpy yellowish cap that cracks on the surface. Growing in clusters in garden area, more open area.
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Agrocybe paludosa. Small, graceful cap growing in grass in boggy conditions in scattered group of 3. Clean pale tan colour. Quickly becoming open and flat.
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Agrocybe praecox. Spring fieldcap. Sturdy caps growing in a group on wetwoodchips in open garden area.Not seen opening to flat top. Drying paler.
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Agrocybe rivulosa. Always growing on woodchip piles needing the heat they generate. Opening caps soondevelop approximately radial wrinkles. Grow in non tufted groups.
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Aleuria aurantia, Orange Peel Fungus. A cup fungus growing on ground and up to 10 cms across, but often smaller. Cups are bright orange, beginning tidy and becoming open, split and convoluted. Without stalks.
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Amanita excelsa var spissa. Found once. The dirty gray patches of veil remnants over the cap surface washed off quickly in rain, leaving a reddish brown cap. The cream gills had a decurrant tooth.
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Amanita muscaria. Fly agaric. Found with birch trees. Red cap loosing white veil remnants and yellowing in rain.
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Amanita rubescens. The blusher. Found once with birch. Distinctive colour brown cap with white patches of the veil remnants on the cap. The stem has remains of volva round it below the ring.
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Amanita strobiliformis. Warted amanita. Found once. Distinctive large brownish scales on the cap.
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Antrodia albida. Covering a large area of a fallen ash trunk, this is white and developed downward pointing pores. The pores clumped into shelved ledges. The pores initially are small but become big and angular, up to 1 mm each pore.
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Armillaria gallica, Bulbous Honey Fungus. Grows in small groups or singly, with cap scales that are fairly evenly spread across the cap. The ring on the stem disintegrates quick to leave a ridge only. Grows directly on the soil.
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Armillaria mellea, Honey Fungus. This grows in large groups on wood, sometimes rotting underground stumps. The stem ring is prominent and persistent. The cap scales are clustered mainly in the cap center.
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Armillaria ostoyae, Dark Honey Fungus. Young caps are covered with fine dark scales and the ring of the mature caps has a dark edge . Growing on the ground in small groups.
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Ascocoryne sarcoides. A small pink/mauve cup fungus found overwinter on old poplar wood.The largest specimen found was about 3 cms across.
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Aurantioporus fissilis. A beautiful tiered white bracket which grows on an old ash.
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Auricularia auricula-judae. Jelly ear. The pink brown form of this is common, the black form seems unusual. These very flexible growths expand in the wet and contract in the dry, usually at the end or beginning of the year on dead elder wood.
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Auricularia mesenterica. Tripe fungus. Named as the underside looks like tripe. Grows resupinate on the underside of dead wood and forms small brackets at the edge, or just brackets on the top of wood.
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B
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Bisporella citrina, Lemon Disco. A tiny (up to 2mm across) lemon yellow growth that grows on very wet wood. Always found in small to large groups, not singly. The discs are flat on the surface of the wood. As it grows in very wet conditions and is so small I have not managed to get decent photos but have this listed as it does grow in Abney.
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Bjerkandera adusta. Smoky Bracket. A tiered small bracket on dead wood with a lower side that changes from white to brown to grey as it matures. Upper side matures from white to brown. Resupinate on lower side of dead wood.
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Bolbitius titubans. yellow fieldcap. Found on woodchip piles. It is a delicate cap. Bright yellow when young dryingto a dirty cream.
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Boletus chrysenteron. Red cracking bolete. Not common in Abney. The dirty yellow poses can be seen with a mirror without picking. The cap top looks like moleskin and cracks showing red and yellow and bruises red.
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Botryobasidium aureum, alysidium state. A small growth that troops across wet rotting wood. The individual growths look something like swollen breadcrumbs, white at first they become ocherish and are finally orangey. Irregular in shape and surface texture.
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Byssomerulius corium, netted crust. Grows on the underside of dead branches and forms small brackets at the edges which have a finely fringed edge. Lower side is wrinkled.
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C
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Calocera cornea. Small stagshorn. Little yellow pointed projections from dead wood.
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Calocera palidospathulata. Pale stagshorn. Small club shaped and misshapen yellow projections on dead wood.
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Calocera viscosa, Yellow Stagshorn. Small yellow finger projections that develope and branch like coral, on dead wood (usually conifer).
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Calocybe gambosa, St. George’s Mushroom, used to be called Tricholoma gambosa. It is a near white, chunky cap that grows traditionally around St. George’s Day (23rd April).
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Calvatia gigantia, Giant Puffball. Used to be called Langermannia gigantea. This can be a massive roundish white growth and tends to be kicked about like a football, and thus spreads its spores where it is kicked. Browns with age.
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Ceriporia viridans. A slightly ocherish encrusting fungus with downward pointing pores and a white edge. Becoming deeper ocher as matures and develops redder spots.
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Ceriporiopsis gilvescens. An encrusting fungus which has downward pointing spore tubes that form curtain like folds. Cream when young, but reddening with age. Again I am indebted to Kew for the identification.
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Cerrena unicolor. A smallish and velvety topped bracket that tends to grow algae so greens. The lower surface has pores that merge to a maze like pattern and break down further to points.
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Chlorophyllum brunneum. This is similar to C. rhacodes. The differences are the ring, it is not a double ring but thicker from a short way in from the rim and without the shaggy scales; The cap is totally covered with scales, They are brown and less radially fibrous in the center but white and very radially fibrous towards the rim. C rhacodes is less covered and has fewer white radially fibrous scales; The basal bulb is smoother and inclined to be larger.
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Chlorophyllum rhacodes, Shaggy Parasol. (This used to be Macrolepiota rhacodes). This is a large soft cap. It initially has a smooth brown covering which splits as the cap expands forming scales. The center of the cap expands less so has a more intact brown middle. The ring on the stem has split scales but is noticeably a double structure with a flat brown lower side. The base of the white stem is bulbous. The gills, most of the mature cap and the spores are white.
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Chondrostereum purpureum, Silverleaf fungus. I got a bit muddled with this so there are a lot of photos in the notes. It is a smooth edged small bracket, unless it becomes wavy edged. It is a dense tiered bracket unless on the underside of a slope when it can be encrusting without brackets or just brackets at the edge. It is purple until it fades to brown. It is very common.
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Clavaria acuta. A white, small growth that I have only found once. Narrow projections growing on soil among moss.
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Clavulina cinerea. Grey Coral Fungus. Small coral like growth with branch tips that end without fringing. Some tip splitting but splaying tips.
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Clavulina coralloides, Crested Coral. Used to be called. Clavulina cristata. Very small white-ish growths with fringing at the ends of branched growth.
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Clavulinopsis luteoalba, Apricot club. The growth I found was small, but fairly distinctive. The colour and shape, as well as the mossy habitat make this identification fairly sure.
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Clitocybe brumalis. I have only found this under the Bhutan Pine trees on the main path to the chapel and growing in the fallen needles. I am indebted to Kew for the identification.
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Clitocybe candicans. A smaller white cap that ages to pale buff with a white pruina (fibrous covering) on the surface. It grows flat and inverts to funnel shape at maturity, with adnate white gills. The spore print is white and the smell is quite strong and sweetish.
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Clitocybe nebularis, Clouded Funnel.An elegant, sturdy cap which has a straight stem and tends towards a greyish cap that grows into a typical inverted funnel shape.
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Clitocybe phillophila, Frosty Funnel. A sturdy, white-ish cap and stem that grew in a group on the only occasion I have seen it. It slowly browns with age.
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Collybia dryophila, Russet Toughshank. A smallish orange/brown cap with a stem that tapers downwards, and is flattened below cap. The stem is tough and fibrous, the same colour as the cap.
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Collybia erythropus, Redleg toughshank. Only found once, this grew in a large colony on woodchips in a flower bed. The flexible tough stem is red and darkens.
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Coniophora puteana, Wet Rot. An encrusting fungus that has a distinctive khaki colour and wrinkled surface. The edges of the growth are fibrous and white when young, but the fibrous ‘hairyness’ reduces with age and eventually disappears.
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Conocybe apala, was C. lactea. This was identified in Abney buvanished before I could note it down. This is the description form a Suffolk colony. The shape and colour make it distinctive.
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Conocybe arrhenii, Ringed Conecap. A small, delicate orange brown cap with a striate, movable ring. The ring is ocher on the outside edge but otherwise white on a white stem.
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Conocybe rickenii. For a few years this was very common but by the time I tried to record it all I could find was one dry cap, and I haven’t seen it since. The caps young olive tinge becomes greyish yellow, the cap shape and absence of the ring identify it.
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Conocybe tenera. A bright orange cap growing among wood piles. Cap shape bell shape and distinctive, stem browning at the bottom, no ring on stem.
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Conocybe velata. Was C. appendiculata. Young caps retain a fringing of veil scraps when young. Older caps quickly flatten.
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Coprinellus callinus, was Coprinus callinus,an inkcap. A brownish young cap that develops into an elegant grey cap, that quickly becomes open.
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Coprinellus disseminatus, was Coprinus disseminatus, an inkcap. Common name Fairies Bonnets, Trooping crumble cap or, now, Fairy Inkcap. A small ephemeral cap that grows in large colonies.
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Coprinellus domesticus, was Coprinus domesticus, an inkcap. Common name Firerug Inkcap. A larger inkcap with upright scales that ages from white to brown, the stem has a swollen base.
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Coprinellus flocculosis, was Coprinus flocculosis, an inkcap. A larger cap with a sticky veil that tends to capture debris. Conical shape.
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Coprinellus impatiens, was Coprinus impatiens, an inkcap. Strongly grooved to center. The hydrated brownishcap dries white with a brownish center.
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Coprinellus micaceus, was Coprinus micaceus an inkcap. Common name Glistening Inkcap. This is the most common inkcap in the cemetery. It grows on dead wood in sometimes large colonies. The veils remnants on the cap can be washed off in rain.
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Coprinellus radians. Found once. It grew as a single cap. The surface was covered with small scales and the colour below was golden on the center.
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Coprinellus truncorum. This looks like C. micaceus with one reliable difference, in singly growing caps the base of the stem has a white hyphal fuzz as far as a low ridge round the stem. If the stem base is not vsisble or the group is tufted and the base merges with other caps masking the base, the gill surface has regular cheilocystidia just visible with a hand lens. C. micaceus is less regular in this respect. The only definitive way to tell the species apart is the spore shape.
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Coprinellus xanthothrix, was Coprinus xanthothrix, an inkcap. Always found as a solitary cap on dead tree trunks. The young caps are covered in wooly looking white scales.
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Coprinopsis atramentaria, was Coprinus atramentarius, an inkcap. Common name is Common Inkcap. The veil remnants wash off to leave a greyish cap which has a distinctive shape. It can grow quite tall.
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Coprinopsis cinerea. An inkcap that grows on hot, rapidly decaying, wood chip piles. It grow from deep in the pile so the stem is mainly buried. The cap begins as pale and covered with a veil of cream-ish shaggy scales. They shrink with age and can come away from the cap in patches or shrivel on the cap surface. The surface below quickly greys and then blackens as the gills mature. The white stem found was rooting.
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Coprinopsis echinospora, was Coprinus echinospora, an inkcap. A tiny cap with a life measured in hours, not days. Growing in a cluster in sheltered places on rotting wood.
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Coprinopsis erythrocephala. A little orange/red cap that matures to become more blackish, Growing on soil at thte path edge.
Coprinopsis lagopus, was Coprinus lagopus, an inkcap. Common name Hare’sfoot Inkcap. Always found on wood chip piles in scattered colonies. The young caps are covered with a whitish veil that breaks up showing a grey cap surface below. Fairly sturdy.
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Coprinopsis marcescibilis. This used to be called Psathyrella marcescibilis. When dry this is a cream cap, often with a brown rim, with a slight shine. When wet it is dull and slightly browner. Young caps are red/brown. The white veil breaks to form a series of attachments that cling to the cap edge for a while. Old caps rarely retain the veil attachments. Growing on woodchips, a few caps together or singly.
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Coprinopsis radiata, was Coprinus radiata, an inkcap. Tiny and ephemeral, growing singly on dead wood or wood chips. Cap quickly becomes flat and inverts.
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Coprinopsis spelaiophila, was Coprinus spelaiophila, an inkcap. Found occasionally in the middle of dead wood logs. The white cap scales become brown before the cap greys in self-digestion.
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Coprinus comatus, was Coprinus comatus, an inkcap. Common name Lawer’s Wig or Shaggy Inkcap. This is the largest of the inkcaps. It grows mainly on disturbed ground and only occasionally on established territory.
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Coprinus patouillardii. A small cap, up to 1.7 cms across, growing on a mixed compost pile of chipped leafy branches. It matures and fades fast. Young caps are pale tan brown, but this changes to grey. The cap is covered with veil cells that clump together, especially in the center that remains pale tan brown.
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Cortinarius decipiens, Sepia Webcap. Usually in groups at the path edge, this has a mauve tinge to the cap that is lost as the cap matures, becoming tan brown and flat. When young with a violet top to the stem.
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Cortinarius flexipes. Growing on moss under oak trees, this is a tiny brown cap. It opens to a flat top which has a white scales when young, from about half way in from the edge where they are sparse, becoming more dense further out, to an almost white edge. Hygrophanous, red/brown when wet, paler and yellower when dry.
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Cortinarius hinnuleus.This is a pale orangy cap, radially fibrous with a rounded umbo, that can become a rich chocolate brown when fully hydrated. It has a longish stem with white veil remnants, that curves as it tapers downwards. The gills begin concolorous with the dry cap and mature to a stronger orangy colour.
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Cortinarius largus. I have found this only once. The light colour and obviously swollen stem are distinctive. It grew in a scattered group in ivy. The cap browns with age and becomes inverted.
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Cortinarius obtusus. A much more slender Cortinarius with a very distinct umbo (a high center in the cap). The cap is brown, darker in the center with a lighter stem and tends to grow in groups.
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Cortinarius saniosus. Another slender cap that grows on groups. The brown cap has a light edge that tends to split at the margin. It opens to a flat surface.
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Crepidotus applanatus, Flat Oysterling. These are bracket shaped caps growing from dead wood, with gills that start light and become browner with age.
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Crepidotus cesatii. A small bracket shaped cap that begins life a pristine white and becomes a bit dingy. The gills also age from white but to a dark cream on maturing. The cap is mainly hairless but with hairs around the attachment to the wood. Grows in loose colonys on dead wood.
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.Crepidotus luteolus. Yellowing Oysterling. Growing on small twigs and tending to invert with age. It has a ocher tinge.
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Crepidotus Mollis. Peeling Oysterling. Growing in groups on dead wood. This is distinguished by the peelable gelatinous layer over the cap surface.
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Crepidotus variabilis, Variable Oysterling. This grows on twigs and tends to be in close clusters on the twigs with more in the same area. It is whitish without the ochre colour and tends to become wavy edged.
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Cristulariella depraedens. This is a microfungus growing on sycamore leaves. It forms dark rings with paler centers on the fallen leaves in autumn.
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Cryptostroma corticale, Sooty Bark of Sycamore. A black sooty like layer on the wood of dead sycamore branches.
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Cylindrobasidium laeve, was C. evolvens. An encrusting fungus. It grows on the underside of wood. The edges when young are fibrous, but they become distinct with age.
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D
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Dacrymyces stillatus, Common Jellyspot. These are bright orange growths that begin round but can merge with the adjacent growths,as they expand, to form more complex shapes.
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Dactylospora stygia, an ascospore, blackish cup shaped growth of less than 0.5mm across.
Daedaleopsis confragosa, Blushing Bracket. A medium sized bracket growing on Birch wood. The thin, sharp edged brackets have elongated pores that radiate away from the small attachment to the wood. The underside bruises reddish.
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Daldinia concentrica, King Alfred’s Cakes or Cramp Balls. Rounded hard growths mainly on dead ash wood up to around 4 cms across. Young growth is pale grey, aging to brown and finally black.
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E
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Entoloma hebes, Pimple Pinkgill, a tiny, neat, satin brown cap with a darker brown, sharp umbo in the center of the cap. The stem is straight with white hairs at the base.
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Entoloma rhodopolium Wood Pinkgill, a less tidy cap. The browns of a wet cap dry to greys. The stem is not quite rod straight, tending to bend a bit. Growing in small groups.
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Exidia nucleata. Crystal Brain. A white to pink brain like growth on dead wood. Tends to be in colonies late in the year.
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Exidia thuretiana. This is a white/clear jelly fungus growing on dead wood. The individual growths are up to 1 cms across but they do link and merge with neighbouring growths.
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F
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Flammulaster ferrugineus. A tiny orange to brown cap, up to 1.2 cms across, growing in moss late in the year. The cap is covered in scales, but only visible close up. Often overlooked due to size.
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Flammulina velutipes, Velvet Shank. A bright orange cap growing in groups in the coldest months. The stem of young caps is the same orange, but it becomes brown/black with age.
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Link to Fungi P – Z + Slime Molds
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I should like to be kept informed of all fungus forays at Abney Park. I enjoyed the one I went to but please, when squeezing into a narrow space, can people remember that everyone has the right to get a good look at the fungus and leave room for others.
Hi Josephine, I’m sorry you felt constricted. The forays at Abney are a precious once a year walk organised by the trust. There are always a lot of people and the cut and thrust of trying to get to the front is always going to be a part of it. Next year I hope there will be some more informal open wanders around Abney that I will advertise on this site, where there is no formal leader or expert. Instead those who know more will hopefully be able to help those who know less. We will probably not be able to identify everything, but hopefully there will be still a lot to learn.
If you want to go on other forays during the season in other parts of London and its surrounds can I recommend Londonfungi. I have it listed on this site in the links. They are an enthusiastic group who are out and about most weekends in the fungus season. Most places are less constriucted then Abney so may suit you better. Gina.