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 at the end of this list.
—————————————————————————————————————–
P
——————————————————————————————————————
Panaeolus acuminatus. Found in groups on rich soil. The young caps have a distinctive shape with a white edge.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Panaeolus papillionaceus. Growing in a group on woodchips. The caps have white veil remnants attached to the edge for quite a long time. Dark grey caps drying pale grey.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Panellus stipticus. Small brown caps growing out of the side of vertical cut wood. The gills are the same brown as the cap and attached to a stumpy stem which is again brown.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Parasola auricoma, was Coprinus auricoma, an inkcap. Only found once at the edge of a woodchip path. Neat, tidy cap with a brown center disc.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Parasola conopilus, Conical Brittlestem. In wet conditions the caps look leathery red. They fade in dry conditions to whitish. The shape is distinctive. Grows in large colonies and sometimes can be dense growth, but not tufted, on woodchips.
.
.
.
.
.
Parasola leiocephala, was Coprinus leiocephala, an inkcap. Only found once. The brown center spreads in wet conditions into the radial striations. Hydrated young caps are totally brown.
.
.
.
.
.
Paxillus involutus, Brown Rollrim. Found most years in Abney. The cap can look quite scruffy and inverts quickly. The brown gills run obviously down the stem. Found singly or in groups.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Peniophora lycii. An encrusting fungus with a distinctive pinkish colour and cracking nature. It grows on dead, fallen twigs and slightly larger branches lying on the ground.
.
.
.
.
.
Perenniporia fraxinea. A really impressive bracket. It builds on the previous year’s growth to wider then the tree trunk, some 85 cms one one occasion. The sharp edges, white pored surface and brown upperside in Abney are near the base of the tree and its growth is signposted by the deposit of white spores up the tree.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Peziza domiciliana. A pale brown cup fungus that becomes untidy and darker on the inside with aging, split at the edges on drying and distorted by adjacent growth. Identified most easily by growing on old powdery mortar in brick walls, etc.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Peziza micropus. A cup fungus with pale brown outside and darker brown inside on aging. Initially neat but becoming blowsy. Found growing ondead wood with a charred surface, woody debris collected in a hollow,woodchip piles and dead decaying wood. Up to 5cms but generally smaller then that.
.
.
.
.
.
Peziza vesiculosa, Blistered Cup. Only found on woodchip piles. Similar to micropus but substantially larger, up to 8cms across, and growing in larger colonies.
.
.
.
.
.
Phaeolus schweinitzii, Dyer’s Mazegill. This is an unusual bracket for London. It grows at the base of one ailing Bhutan Pine. It grows around anything in its surroundings holding them tight. The upper surface is yellow when young.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Phlebia radiata, Wrinkled Crust. When it is young this looks spectacularly bright orange and is unmissable. The colour though fades to a dull brown. It is an encrusting fungus with a characteristic growth pattern, warty center and radiating growth outwards.
.
.
.
.
.
Phlebia tremellosa, Jelly Rot. An especially flexible small bracket up to about 5cms. It has a wrinkled reddish brown underside, a whitish, hairy upper surface and a lighter margin. Usually growing tiered on dead wood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pholiota aurivella, Golden Scalycap. A golden cap with brown scales, but these scales may not persist. The caps are sticky, brilliant, hard to miss, (although someone still managed to sit on this group), and growing on dead wood, here a fallen tree trunk.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pholiota gummosa, Sticky Scalycap. growing on the ground, on buried wood, this has pale yellow, greenish, cream caps with brownish scales that may not persist. Always sticky.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pholiota jahnii. This grows on the ground on roots of living trees, or shrubs. It was in a cluster of tufted caps, and hard to miss. The gold caps are covered in dark brown upright scales.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pholiota limonella. This is a yellow cap which has white scales on the cap and densly covering the stem. These scales sit in the impressive yellow gelatinous layer rather then being attached to the cap. The scales shrivel and brown with age. It grows on dead wood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pholiota squarrosa, Shaggy Scalycap. Grows in tufted groups, sometimes in huge numbers. The light brown caps have darker brown scales. The stems are whitish under the cap and become brown and scruffy below.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Both species can be seen to be turning bramble leaves purple in Abney. They can only be told apart under a microscope in the right conditions. As yet I have not been able to do this, but others have.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Phyllactinia fraxinia. Powdery mildew of Ash. A white covering on ash leaves with black point structures when producing spores.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Phylloporia ribis. A bracket found unusually on an ancient hawthorn (by Russell Miller). Upper surface is brown and smooth or tuberculate, lower surface has rounded pores. Young growth is reddish. Growing in tiers.
.
.
.
.
.
Piptoporus betulinus, Birch Polypore or Razorstrop Fungus. A bracket growing often high in standing dead birch trees or on the laying trunks. The upper surface is scruffy white/brown, the lower surface is pored and white.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pleurotus dryinus, Veiled Oyster. An asymetrical cap often at least a few feet off the ground on tree stumps. The cap surface is grey/brown scaled but the white gills that run down the stem a long way, can be stunning.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pleurotus ostreatus, Oyster Mushroom. growing on dead and laying tree trunks or sections of trunks. The clustered brown, smooth caps and white decurrent gills, together with the lopsided growth, make this fairly obvious.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus aurantiorugosus. This can be tiny or medium sized depending on the conditions. It grown on very wet rotten wood and is a brilliant orange that almost glows. The larger caps have radial wrinkling. The gills and steam are white. Growing in groups.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus cervinus, Deer Shield. A strong medium sized cap growing on woodchips or rotting wood. The cap is brown with a wrinkled center and radiating patterning from the center over the smooth outer area.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus chrysophaeus, Yellow Shield. A small cap that can be bright golden yellow, but darkens to brown. growing on rotting wood. The base of the stem is flushed with yellow.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus cinereofuscus. Growing on dead wood, this smallish cap is khaki coloured (with a greenish tone). The cap center is wrinkled and there are fine radiating lines beyond the center.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus nanus, it was not in good condition, but growing in a very wet, very hollow old stump it is chestnut brown on the cap, which is venous in the center and minutely wrinkled, with a white stem (which could be light grey on another cap). The stem was equal for the most part but became sligthly wider towards the base. Gills were pink.
Pluteus romellii, Goldleaf Shield. Usually shown in books as dark golden brown this can be dark brown but the growing group was a lighter golden brown. The stem was always yellow. Growing on buried woodchips that were laid the previous year.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus salicinus, Willow Shield. A clear grey colour, with a slightly darker center. Grows on dead wood but usually on smaller branches, and from the side of the branch and the stem then curves to upright at the base.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pluteus umbrosus, Velvet Shield. Can be a stunningly gorgeous cap. It is covered in upright scales in a pattern that is darker in the middle and lines drift out from there of a variety of toning browns.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Polyporus durus. Bay Polypore. This wasn’t bay when I found it, more of a rich chestnut colour. The underside has finer pores than the Blackfoot polypore, seen only through a hand lens. It is also more asymetric.
Polyporus leptocephalus, Blackfoot Polypore. A thin, leathery brown cap with a cream underside on the pored surface. The cream pores extend a short way down the stem. The base of the stem becomes dark brown/ black. growing on dead wood.
.
.
.
.
.
Polyporus squamosus, Dryad’s Saddle. growing in ailing trees at the level where the branches break from the main trunk, or on dead wood on the ground. A large cream bracket with brown scales on the top side.
.
.
.
.
.
Postia subcaesia. Blueing Bracket. Not on conifer and not always blue, this is a small bracket which starts hairy and looses its density of hair, begins brown and becomes blue, then fades. The young white bracket blues eventually on bruising
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella bipellis. A richly brown cap when wet, growing in grass on buried woo. It dries paler. The shape is conic-hemispherical when young, flattening with age and it has a small round, slghtly paler unbo (bump) in the cap center. It has a brown gills and a white stem.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella candolleana, Pale Brittlestem. Found on woodchips or rich soil, this is a pale cap, darker when wet but only to mid red/ brown. The edge has veil remnants that persist. Grows in clusters or singly.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella cernua. A tiny (to 1.7cm tall) swarming beige or red/brown cap on rotten stumps.
Psathyrella corrugis. (Previously P. gracilis). One of the Psathyrellas with a red line edging the gills and a white extreme edge. The red in this case is not continuous. The cap is small and grows on buried wood (wood chips). It is brown and striated when wet and dries paler.
.
.
.
Psathyrella leucotephra. A pale cap which develops a distinctive center ‘ring’ in the right conditions. The edge is scalloped shape. Growing in small, often tufted groups across woodchip piles.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella marcescibilis.Typically shaped Psathyrella growing often in clusters, but not tufted, on pathsides. The young caps have an obvious veil attached to the cap edege which does shrivel and persist in most conditions, but not in the driest weather. The gills are pale then grey brown and have a very fine white/lighter edge. The whitish stem is scaley at first but becomes smooth quite quickly. The caps are smooth in colour, shape and surfacce texture. The spores are large, here about 13.7 microns long to 7 microns wide.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella microrhiza, Rootlet Brittlestem. Young caps with a border of white veil remnants round the hemispherical brown cap rim. As the caps develop they loose the veil remnants. The cap is date brown/dark brown when hydrate drying lighter, even to being cream. The stem often, but not always, has a rooting habit. The rooting section can easily be broken when searching for it among the white fibrils at the base, which may attach it to woodchips etc.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella multipedata, Clustered Brittlestem. In large tufted groups which range in colour from chestnut brown when very young, to dark brown in wet conditions, through chestnut brown to dirty cream with chestnut tones especially in the center. The shape of the caps is tending towards conical.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella murcida. This is a difficult identification and not 100% sure. The young caps had veil remnants on the very edge. The caps are the right shape and colour with blackish tones when wet, and drying to pale with an ocher-ish center. The wavy rim is also right. But the stems were not as fibrilose as they should have been. Small differences from the specifications seem to be there in all Psathyrellas, this could just be due to these small variations.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella prona. The blackish gills with a striking white edge underlined with red are a stand out feature of this species. The cap is usually brown and hemispherical when young, and campanulate when older. It dries light, as this specimen. Found growing in grass.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella pseudogracilis. This is a difficult species to identify. There seem to be a handful of Psathyrellas that can only be seperated by microscopic examination. This one has a red edge to its gills and a white narrow fringing outside that, seem with a hand lens. I found no veil remnants or veil fibers on the cap. The cap began darker and became lighter, but not as much as the species description would suggest. It was growing pathside rooted in soil below wood chips.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella spadiceogrisea. A small typical Psathyrella in shape that grows in grass. The cap dries to white when young, and to a chestnut tinti when older. When wet it becomes mid brown with a redder center. It tends to look a bit streaked with colour radially when drying or hydrating.
.
.
.
.
.
Psathyrella tephrophylla. It looks like P. oncopilus when young with a leather brown surface, but becomes more open when mature, with a pale buff cap with a reddish brown center.
.
.
.
.
Pseudohydnum gelatinosum, Jelly Tooth. Mainly encrusting growth around wet and rotting branches, this also has reflexed upper brackets. The underside has white spines up to 5mm long. The upper growth begins white and browns with age. The growth is soft and elastic.
.
.
.
.
.
Psilocybe cyanescens, Blueleg Brownie. A small tough cap with a leathery brown top that tends to lift at the edges. The stem blackens a few hours after bruising. Trooping on woodchips.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Puccinia malvacearum, Hollyhock Rust. Found on Common Mallow. Yellow raised spots on the upperside of the leaves with brown centers, and raised brown spots in the underside. Lesions also found on veins and leaf stems.
Pyronema domesticum. Found once on an old bonfire site, this is a salmon pink growth that grows on charred earth, even if that earth is inside splits in twigs where it was thrown as the fire was extinguished. The rounded structures swarmed over the site.
.
.
.
.
.
—————————————————————————————————————————
R
—————————————————————————————————————————
Ramaria stricta, Upright Coral. This looks like coral with branching growth. It begins white and becomes red/brown with age. Size varies.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Resupinatus applicatus, Smoked Oyster. A tiny grey bracket. Found only once on a bird box that had fallen into the undergrowth and become very wet. The upper surface is downy, the lower side has gills that radiate out from the center attachment.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Rhodocybe gemina. Only found as an old cap, this had an untidy habit. The cap had become flattened and the edge irregular. The stem tapered upwards. Growing in pine needles.
.
.
.
.
.
Rhodotus palmatus, Wrinkled Peach. The pinkish cap top has a wrinkled surface that catches the light to look paler then the underlayer. Growing in small tufted groups on dead wood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Rhystima aceranum, Tar spot of Sycamore. Black shiny spots on sycamore leaves that age to be less shiny.
.
.
.
.
.
Rigidoporus ulmarius. This is a large bracket with the potential to be huge. The growth continues over many years. The young brackets are white with a bumpy upper surface. This ages to brown. The lower surface starts white, becomes reddish then fades to a dull brown. It can form tiers of annual growth or just get bigger.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Rosellinia aquila. Colonies of small black rounded structures with pointed tops among similar structures with white fibrous exteriors. Growing on wet rotting wood.
.
.
.
.
————————————————————————————————————————–
S
————————————————————————————————————————–
Scleroderma verrucosum, Scaly Earthball A round headed growth on the ground which has small dark scales on the head. The opening, which allows the spore producing mass inside the head to be released at maturity, is ragged. Tends to grow in loose groups.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Scutellinia scutellata, Eyelash Fungus. Growing in colonies on rotten and very wet wood these are tiny bright orange round, flat discs. They may be crowded so not all laying flat, but they all have brown/black hairs arcing from the edge, which gives it the common name. A composite group. Up to about 5mm across.
.
.
.
.
Scutellinia crinita. It is paler then S. scutellata with shorter hairs.
.
.
.
.
Simocybe sumptuosa. This is a little brownish cap that grows on rotten wood. Found in a group of 3 caps. It has white mycelial growth round the base of its stem anchoring it into the wood. The stem curves to keep the cap upright. The cap is dome shaped and slightly scalloped round the edge.
.
.
.
.
Sistotrema brinkmannii. A white encrusting fungus with knots of growth that look like minute spines, just visible to be pointing downwards when looked at with a hand lens. Growing on wet rotting poplar wood on mainly the downward facing and vertical faces of the crevaces. Only idntifiable microscopically.
.
.
.
.
Skeletocutis nivea, Hazel Bracket. A small white bracket on dead wood, with encrusting growth below the bracket where the growth is sloping backwards, or completely encrusting on the underside of branches etc. The upper side is scruffy and bumpy and browns towards the wood with age. The lower side and the encrusting growth is very finely pored, about 8 or 9 pores per mm.
.
.
.
.
Stereum gausapatum, Bleeding Oak Crust. Small brackets growing from a resupinate layer in some conditions. Oozes red in the right stage of growth (not too old or dry). Tough, without visible pores on the undersidde.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stereum hirsutum, Hairy Curtain Crust. Young brackets are bright yellow and hairy on upper surface. Aging to less bright and wavy more but always hairy. No pores visible on the underside.
.
.
.
.
.
Stereum rugosum. Bleeding Broadleaf Crust. An encrusting fungus that develops small brackets at the top of the encrusting area, or when the dead wood is at the right angle for bracket growth, it is just small brackets. It is rusty/brown/ocher in colour with a cream/whitish growing edge. There are no visible pores. Growing on the dead wood of broadleaved trees.
.
.
.
.
.
Stereum subtomentosum. Yellowing Curtain Crust. Bracket growing in tiered groups. The upper surface is red/brown and shows growth bands of differing colour density with a white edge when young. The colour fades with age and often develops algal growth. Lower surface is red/brown without visible pores. Tough and leathery.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stropharia aeruginosa, Verdigris Agaric. Beautiful blue/green cap, cone shaped when young, fading to become murky yellowish where not protected by leaves etc that stick to the surface. Young surface is bumpy and has white veil pieces sticking to it.Stem is green with white scales over the green.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stropharia aurantiaca, Redlead Roundhead. A vivid orange cap which has white veil remnants towards the edge when young. grown in groups on woodchips, sometimes tufted.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stropharia caerulea, Blue Roundhead. Another blue/green cap, but more blue then S. aeruginosa and fading more quickly to whitish colour. The shape is less conical and more rounded then aeruginosa.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stropharia inuncta, Smoky Roundhead. Found only once at the base of a poplar tree. The cap is sticky/slimy with a thick layer of violet/grey/fawn tinged ‘jelly’ developing over the top that is peelable. The gills also have a lilac/purple/grey colour.
.
.
.
.
.
Stropharia squarrosa. Found in 1997 and 1999 but not since. The caps are sticky brown, darker at first and paling with age. The white veil leaves remnants round the outer section of the cap more then on the edge.
.
.
.
.
.
————————————————————————————————————
T
————————————————————————————————————
Tapesia fusca. This is tiny, up to 2 mm acorss at the most, translucent white cups on wet soft wood. The cups sit stalkless on a dark grey fibrous surface.
.
.
.
.
Taphrina pruni. A fungus causing distortion and enlargement of Cherry Plums, and more usually Plums. The fruits become long and powderey.
Trametes gibbosa. Lumpy Bracket. A bracket with a chunky feel to it. The young brackets are whitish and lumpy, but as they age they tend to have an algal growth on the upper surface. They are fairly thick. The white underside has elongated pores.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Trametes hirsuta. Hairy Bracket. Similar to T. gibbosa, but the pores in the underside are rounded, not elongated, and the upper side is clearly hairy.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Trametes versicolor, Turkeytail. A smallish bracket that can have an encrusting component, or be mainly encrusting depending on the angle of the wood it is growing on. The upper surface is hairy and zoned. The lower surface has pores.
.
.
.
.
.
Tremella mesenterica. Yellow Brain Fungus. A startling bright yellow fungus that inflates in wet conditions. Colonies grow on dead wood. Found once on a grounded dead twig.
.
.
.
.
.
Trichaptum abietinum. Tiers of small, thin brackets growing on pine wood. The upper side is brown to palid with a fibrous/hairy covering and a growth of algae turning it green. The lower side has pores, about 3 per mm, and is violet at the edge, shading to brown near the wood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Tricholoma fulvum. Birch Knight. A strong, upright cap growing under birch. The edge became raised showing the pale yellow gills. The cap and stem were strong red/brown.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Tricholoma scalpturatum. Yellowing Knight. Found most years under a Holm Oak near the chapel but no where else. The caps are grey/ fawn and scaly. The scales are darker then the cap and densest in the cap center. As the cap grows it often splits radially.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Trochila ilicina, Holly Speckle. A seris of raised dark spots on the upperside of Holly leaves, that then lose their upper cover and become recessed. Each speckle is about .25 mm across.
.
.
.
Tubaria conspersa. A little brown cap, this was growing out of moss over a stone 29.11.2012. The sinuous reddish stem with its white fibrous base was under tan coloured gills and a brown cap with zones across the radius.
Tubaria dispera. A tiny orange cap that some years has swarmed below Hawthorn trees. It grows on the buried berries. The stem is widest below the cap and snakes its way down to a fine base.
.
.
.
.
.
Tubaria furfuracea, Scurfy Twiglet. A small orange cap that is covered with veil remnants round the edge when young. The cap grows on buried wood or on fallen branches in protected conditions.
.
.
.
.
.
Tulasnella violea. An encrusting fungus which when young is a striking pink/mauve colour. This fades with age. The surface is smooth (no pores visible) and thin, taking on and slightly smoothing out the shape of the underlying structure.
.
.
.
.
.
Typhula setipes. A tiny growth on dead leaves that are still attached to a fallen branch, but are suspended off the ground. The hair like growth is up to 2mm with transparent/brownish stem and an opaque white head.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
—————————————————————————————————————
U
—————————————————————————————————————
Urocyces muscari. A microfungus of bluebell leaves. Mainly diamonds of spotted dark brown growing in patches of paler, yellowed leaf.
.
.
.
.
—————————————————————————————————————
V
—————————————————————————————————————
Venturia rumicis is the microfungus causing purple splatttering on broad leaved dock leaves. The purple patches have light centers and darker epicenters at maturity.
.
.
.
Verticillium species. This is a microfungus which was growing on Rhodocybe gemina. There are a range of species which can only be seperated by culturing the growth and getting more involved with procedure then I am capable of. It is a pointed growth that developes whirls of outgrowing branches. Microscopic.
.
.
.
.
.
Volvariella bombycina, Silky Rosegill. This grows on dead wood on parts of large branches or trunks. The cap starts out as a white-ish growth in a volva (sac) which breaks to allow the cap to grow through. The initial growth is hairy. The cap tends to grow out from the wood and the stem bends to allow the cap to grow the right way up. The cap is quite large, up to 18 cms across.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Volvariella gloiocephala, Stubble Rosegill. This is a substantial cap that grows on woodchip piles. The colour varies but the cap surface is always smooth and a bit greasy. The cap shape is distinctive, almost bullet shaped. The stem tapers upwards and is often badly eaten by slugs etc. The below ground level volva at the base is often therefore missing. There is no ring on the stem.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
——————————————————————————————————————-
X
——————————————————————————————————————-
Xylaria hypoxylon, Candlesnuff Fungus. This used also to be knows as stagshorn fungus as it usually looks like miniature stags horns. The base is black but the branched horns are covered with white powder, where it doesn’t branch the tip is still white. Not more then a few centimeters high on dead wood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Xylaria longipes, Dead Moll’s Fingers. I’ve only found this on dead wood, not buried wood. Slim blackish/ greyish projections which have no narrower section at the base.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Xylaria polymorpha, Dead Man’s Fingers. Blackish projections on dead wood with a narrower section at the base. Named for its resemblance to dead swollen fingers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
————————————————————————————————————————-
————————————————————————————————————————-
Slime Molds occupy a similar place to some fungi as recyclers of plant matter. They grow inside the food substance where they are out of sight. When they move onto the spore producing phase they need to move to higher ground (even if it is a few inches into the air) and to do this they break down their internal structure and move amoeba-like to where they change into the spore producing structures. These tend to be small and brightly coloured. As they move over anything that will support them they produce these structures on leaves, twigs etc, a mix of types of supports. There is sometimes a trail left from when they move.
Arcyria incarnata. A small growth that is briefly white then red. It has an oval head on a hair like stalk and is quite small, up to abo0ut 4 mms tall. It tends to be in large colonies.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Badhamia panacea. This is not a 100% sure identification, but I think it is OK. A series of white round growths swarming on wood chips that mature to dark grey and then pale grey. Black spores in mass. They sit on a thin red base.
.
.
.
.
Badhamia utricularis. Found only once. This began as a yellow covering on wood, which developed knots of fibrous growth, and then oval structures dangling on longer fibers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Brefeldia maxima. When found this was old. It was a block of purple/black on a rotten stump which was shedding spores on everything that touched it. It had already lost its cauliflower like surface.
.
.
.
.
Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa. This can be yellow, white, blue or pink but only yellow found so far. Small projecting ‘fingers’ about 3mm high, masses on sections of dead wood.
.
.
.
.
.
Comatricha laxa. Very pale green heads on black stalks when first seeen, and becoming red/brown wooly heads when mature (spore coloured). Growing on dead wood (section of trunk).
Comatricha nigra. A small slime mold, can be up to 9mm but here up to 3mms high. It begins white and stalkless and becomes pink with a black stalk, maturing through brown to black. The ‘head’ is shiny. Here growing on a dead ash branch.
Dictydiaethalium plumbeum. A pink flat growth on wood, not very big, a few centimeters across at most, that becomes browner with age.
.
.
Also growing on an ash twig, the bright orangy red, rounded growths merge to a flattish spore producing mass with a pseudocapillatum composed of a series of roughly hexagonal plates with trailing fibres.
.
.
.
.
Enteridium lycoperdon, sometimes shown as Reticularia lycoperdon. This had a smooth red cream colour when first seen but daily changed to blue grey, then brown then it was just a mass of compacted spores. It is one large (for a slime mold) structure at all times.
.
.
.
.
Fuligo septica. Dog’s Vomit Slime Mold. This is the largest of the slime molds. It is therefore more noticeable when it moves. It begins reddish and becomes yellowish.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Lycogala epidendrum. Small, around 3mm across, bright pink rounds on wood. They age to brown. Usually in groups.
.
.
.
.
.
Lycogala terrestre. Small pink spheres, but not quite as bright pink as epidendron, a bit more grey and fragile. They break to spill pink spores. Found once on top of a log.
.
.
.
.
.
Hemitrichia clavata. 3 mm high on rotten wood. Starting chestnut brown then changing eventually to pale yellow when the spores erupt.
Mucilago crustacea. The most common slime mold in Abney. This covers grasses etc with a cream coloured growth and often leaves a definite trail behind it.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stemonites axifera. Truly tiny, this is elongated oval heads on hair like stems which are a red brown colour. Growing on dead wood in clusters. They are perhaps 4 mms high.
.
.
.
.
Trichia decipiens. A tiny shiny rounded growth on a small whitish stalk. In total it is about 1.2mm high. It begins yellowish and becomes pinkish orange before maturing to brown.
.
.
.
.
Trichia varia. Small rounded growths that begin white, maturing through bright yellow then brown. Growing in sometimes large colonies on dead wood. Each growth is maybe 3 mms across.
.
.
.
.
.
————————————————————————————————————————-
————————————————————————————————————————-
I have a mushroom growing on a stump,growing in a cool wet area.It looks like a 8 inch dish with a slightly sunken center.It looks like a white flower with a brown center. In the same area there are the orange pipe like fungi i have seen in a forest.It appears similar to the poly leptocephalus in your site. I hike in the woods and seen many a fungi growing on trees and on the ground , but never have i seen anything like this!!! I live in walnutport pa I am very curious to find a name for my fungi monster
Hi there, identifying fungi is not easy (I struggle a lot of the time). There are a lot of features that have to be taken into account, the stem shape, does it have a ring or not, scales on the stem or not, overall size and shape, colour, where it is growing (some fungi grow with specific trees), sometimes the soil it is growing on, An essential element of this is the spore colour. It might be interesting to anyone interested in identification to have a look at a shop bought mushroom that it open with the gills showing. They are quite chunky to don ‘t dry out very quickly, so just cutting off the stem and putting it onto paper overnight out of draughts and the spores will drop onto the paper. Traditioinal shop bought mushrooms are Agaricus and have brown spores.
At a guess the cap you have found could be an Agaricus. The size and brown center scales would sugggest it. Getting closer then that I can’t do. Sorry! There are sites that will help you match overall appearence. Have a look online for a local site, (I am in London, England so I’m only familiar with the UK sites).
It is a fascinating subject. It has kept me interested for decades. Good luck!
I have found a mushroom in mulch. It’s got a brown spot on top faded to tan and some grey. The gills are free and black with some grey. White stem with some blackness around the top. Bell shaped cap with line in it. If anyone can help thanks.
Hi there, the white stem with black top to it sounds like black spores from the black / grey mature gills have fallen on the top of the stem. This is useful as it gives a black spore colour. It is growing on mulch – including decaying wood fragments maybe? Sounds like it could be from the Psathyrella group (including inkcaps). The brown spot on the top is really noticeable in Parasola aurcoma and Parasola leiocephala, but there may be other species out there that will also fit this description. It is as good place as any to start from.
Nice Blog with Excellent information
Amazing amount of information. Thank You.