Beatrix Potter, mycologist

 

When I first became seriously interested in natural history, about 60 years ago, the Wayside and Woodland series of nature guides, published by Warne, were some of the best available, but too expensive for me - the affordable Observer’s books, by the same publisher, were the limit of my budget. Now there are glossier, better illustrated up-to-date guides but the old W & W series often turn up in secondhand bookshops and have a nostalgic charm. This one cost me 50p. in a charity shop and is particularly interesting because most of the illustrations are watercolours by Beatrix Potter, of Flopsy-bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tiggywinkle children’s book fame.

Before she turned to writing children’s books Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was a passionate mycologist who approached the study of fungi with a scientist’s meticulous curiosity and an artist’s sensibility, encouraged by Charles McIntosh, her local postman-naturalist who often supplied her with toadstool specimens to paint.

Her studies extended to culturing fungal spores in her kitchen and in 1896 she submitted a research paper, on the subject of velvet shank toadstools Flammulina volutipes (pictured below) to the Linnaean Society of London. At that time it didn’t admit women as members but her paper was read at a meeting and returned for revision but never resubmitted nor published.

She moved on to writing and illustrating some of the best-loved children’s stories, devoting the latter years of her life to sheep breeding and conserving the beloved Lake District landscape that was her home, but her mycological legacy lives on in her exquisite watercolours.

Velvet shank

 

Autumn is the main toadstool season but some hardy fungi produce theirs in the depths of winter, even during periods of frost and snow. This is velvet shanks Flammulina velutipes on the trunk of an old lime tree on the bank of the river Wear in Durham city. On mild, wet days the cap is smooth and shiny. The pale stem (stipe) darkens as it matures, developing a velvety texture.

Books say this species is edible when cooked. John Wright, the The River Cottage Mushroom Handbook described the flavour as ‘unusual ….. distinctly sweet and malty’ and the texture ‘pleasantly chewy’ but cautions against mistaking it for sulphur tuft (gastrointestinal devastation) or the funeral bell (the essential caution is implicit in the name). Velvet shank differs from both in having white spores.

 

Larch bolete Suillus grevillei

 

These caramel-coloured larch boletes Suillus grevillei began to appear around the roots of larch trees in the Deerness valley this week. They are said to be edible, but those slimy caps are unappetising and it’s their biology rather than their flavour that I find interesting.

This is a mycorrhizal fungus, living in close association with larch tree roots, increasing their ability to absorb minerals from the soil in exchange for sugars from the tree that fuel the fungal growth. It exists for most of its life as a mass of hidden hyphal threads, thinner than human hairs, but early autumn provides a signal for a switch to reproductive growth, reorganising its weft of threads into these elegant toadstools.

When they first break through into the daylight the underside of the cap is covered with a veil that ruptures when the cap expands, exposing the spore-producing tissues.

In boletes the spores are produced inside thousands of fine tubes on the underside of the cap, that open via pores, to release the spores into the airstream.

To appreciate the beauty of the pores, and marvel at what finely-uned organisms toadstools can be, you really need to take a close look at their surface with a hand lens, and then …

… slice down through the cap with a razor blade, to expose the vertically-aligned tubes. In order for these to function effectively the microscopically-small spores lining the tubes must be able to freefall down and out through the pores, unimpeded, into the airstream. This depends on the toadstool’s finely tuned perception of earth’s gravitational pull, so that the tubes are always perfectly aligned with gravitational force; any deviation and the tubes would become clogged with spores that would stick to their walls. When toadstools are tilted, growth of the tubes (and gills of toadstools that have those) is quickly readjusted, to bring them back into vertical alignment.

So could you grow functional toadstools in outer space? For decades scientists have contemplated the potential for growing fungi in microgravity, to feed space travellers but its doubtful whether these beautiful, gravitationally-sensitive, aesthetically-pleasing toadstools would grow. There is, though, a SpaceX experiment in progress to see if toadstools will form, using oyster mushrooms (which have gills, not pores), in the microgravity environment of an orbiting space station.

Shaggy scalycaps

 We found these magnificent shaggy scalycaps Pholiota squarrosa growing around the base of a mature ash tree in Auckland park, Bishop Auckland. They've appeared in the same place for several autumns now and I wonder how long it will be before they weaken the roots so much that the tree will come crashing down in  gale.

 I've also seen shaggy scalycaps growing on old beech trees in the park - these were growing inside the hollow trunk of a beech that died long ago.

Some late winter toadstools

 Three late-winter fungi that have been very conspicuous here this month.

 Scarlet elf cup Sarcoscypha austiaca. Always a joy to find, especially when it's nestling in a bed of mosses. More about this species here.

Hairy bracket Trametes hirsuta, on the base of a dead silver birch trunk. Seems to be increasingly common hereabouts.

A nice cluster of very young velvet shanks Flammulina velutipes, on a dead poplar stump. A toadstool that continues to grow in the coldest, frostiest weather.

Waxcaps in Auckland park, Bishop Auckland

 

This has been the best autumn for waxcap toadstools that I can recall here in County Durham. This very mild, and lately very wet, November seems to have suited them perfectly.

I found these in ancient, unimproved calcareous grassland in Auckland park, Bishop Auckland this morning. I suspect that the one above and the two below might be the scarlet waxcap Hygrocybe coccinea, whilst the bottom two photos, with yellow gills, could be crimson waxcap Hygrocybe punicea, though it is hard to be sure. 

These exquisite little toadstools often seem to be associated with meadow ant nests in the park, which could have more to do with soil drainage than directly with ants. They toadstools are brittle and many are knocked over and broken by grazing animals.

Early autumn fungi

This has been one of the best early autumns for toadstools hereabouts for quite a few years. Here's the tally so far - some of which I've yet to identify and some of which I'm still not sure about

I think these are probably the grey spotted amanita, Amanita excelsa, growing under a beech tree in Wolsingham, Weardale

From the pinkish hue, this looks like the blusher Amanita rubescens. Amongst ants' nests under hawthorns in Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland.

 

Three Russula species, all at Wolsingham in Weardale. Slugs seem very partial to these. I think the red one, growing under pines, is probably the bloody brittlegill Russula sanguinaria. The mauve one, growing under a beech, could be the fragile brittlegill Russula fragilis.

Shaggy parasols Chlorophyllum rhacodes under ash trees in a pasture at Wolsingham, Weardale

Saffron milkcap Lactarius deliciosus.
Edge of a Scots pine plantation, Wolsingham, Weardale.
Thanks to miked at iSpot for ID

Beefsteak fungus Fistulina hepatica on an old sweet chestnut in Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland

Chicken-of-the-woods Laetiporus sulphureus on old sweet chestnut, Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland

I think this one, which must have been magnificent when it was in its prime, is giant polypore Meripileus giganteus. On dead ash, Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland

Dune brittlestem Psathyrella ammophila growing amongst marram grass in dunes at Budle bay, Northumberland coast

Ergot Claviceps purpurea, in grassland near Durham city

Giant polypore Meripileus giganteus, Auckland park, Bishop Auckland

Parasol Macrolepiota procera. Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland

Southern bracket Ganoderma australe on rotting beech, Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland.

Indigo pinkgill Entoloma chalybaeum. In turf on old quarry spoil heaps, Frosterley, Weardale