Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by

In July 2023 four of us visited the Norfolk Brecks to look for insects and plants. We found several Breckland specialities but the best plant we found was Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos, which was growing in gravel at the side of a forestry track. It was a new species for me.

Basil Thyme

Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos

Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos. Norfolk Brecks, 30th July 2023.

Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos, is a member of the Mint family, Lamiaceae (note 1). It’s a pretty annual or short-lived perennial plant with stems to 25cm (10 inches) tall, though often much less. Its leaves are oval-elliptical and scented (note 2). It has whorls of flowers from May to September, which are normally violet with a white horseshoe-shaped mark at the centre.

Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos

Close up: Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos. Norfolk Brecks, 30th July 2023.

Basil Thyme grows on disturbed soils with not too much competition, where it can spread by seed.

Basil Thyme is a native plant in Britain and the Channel Islands. It’s usually found on calcareous soils, in dry grassland, on rocky ground and in arable fields. It also occurs as a casual on waste ground, in quarries and pits, on banks and beside roads and railways. In East Anglia Mike Crewe describes it as frequent on chalky soils in Breckland but scarce and declining elsewhere. The BSBI Species Account for Basil Thyme recommends that management of its habitat should aim for a short sward by the end of the growing season. Depending on the habitat, this can be achieved by grazing with sheep, cutting and removing the arisings, grazing by feral rabbits, or sometimes a mixture of all three.

Basil Thyme has declined substantially since the 1960s as more efficient methods of weed control on arable land have taken their toll. There is only one recent record from Scotland, from a golf course near Elgin in Moray (but see note 3). In Surrey, the plant has been recorded at Banstead Downs. In Leicestershire and Rutland the plant is now restricted to sparsely vegetated limestone quarries. In Wales, one of the places Basil Thyme grows is on the Great Orme, as pictured on the UK Wildflowers website (note 3).

In Ireland Basil Thyme is a neophyte which grows in sandy and gravelly places and some of these have been damaged or destroyed by gravel extraction.

Outside the British Isles, Clinopodium acinos is native in most European countries (but not Portugal) and its range continues east into Turkey, Iran and western Siberia. It is extinct in Morocco but introduced into Kazakhstan, parts of eastern Siberia, New Zealand’s South Island and parts of the United States (note 4).

If you can find a supplier, Basil Thyme makes a good garden plant but it doesn’t like competition from other plants and hates shade. It needs well drained, alkaline soil in full sun. It is very hardy and tolerates temperatures down to at least -15°C. Plants are short-lived but should self seed. The Useful Temperate Plants website says it makes a good, temporary ground cover. If you grow it, you could try using it as a herb for flavouring food. The Useful Temperate Plants website also lists some medicinal uses. The Celtic Wildflowers website lists pot grown plants, but these were out of stock at the time of writing.

Basil Thyme seed can be sown in early spring in a cold frame. Seedlings should be pricked out and potted up individually once they are large enough to handle and then planted out during the summer. Seed can also be sown direct in April or May. Existing plants can be divided by basal cuttings in late spring.

Also Available In White

Although my first photos in this blog post are of Basil Thyme with typical violet flowers, the first plants we found had white flowers.

Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos

Basil Thyme, Clinopodium acinos, with white flowers. Norfolk Brecks, 30th July 2023.

Basil Thyme Case-Bearer

Basil Thyme is the food plant of a rare moth, the Basil Thyme Case-bearer, Coleophora tricolor. The moth lays her eggs in August on Basil Thyme flowers and the larva spins a silk case over a single calyx of Basil Thyme and feeds within its protection. It overwinters on nearby grasses then makes a new case from hollowed out grass leaf-blades in late spring. Here it pupates and adult moths emerge in July and August.

The moth was first recorded in Norfolk in 1899 but after 1914 there were no records for over fifty years. The Norfolk Moths and Suffolk Moths websites show the current distribution in Norfolk and Suffolk, but understandably they keep exact locations of records confidential. There are photos of the moth on the Norfolk Moths website and in the Butterfly Conservation factsheet for the species. Norfolk and Suffolk are the only locations for the moth in the British Isles but it has been recorded in France and Greece. The moth can be attracted to light and flies on sunny days but the easiest way to find it is to search for the larval cases in autumn.

Two Other Finds

We didn’t find the moths but it was still a good day for insects. Highlights included our first Median Wasps (Dolichovespula media) and the striking tachinid fly, Ectophasia crassipennis. Both species are moving their ranges north as the climate warms.

The first British Median Wasps were recorded in 1980 in East Sussex and by 1995 the species had spread north as far as Cumbria and County Durham. The species has now reached Scotland. It is our second largest species of social wasp. (The Hornet, Vespa crabro, is the largest.)

Median Wasp, Dolichovespula media

Median Wasp, Dolichovespula media, on Snowberry flowers. Norfolk Brecks, 30th July 2023.

Ectophasia crassipennis is common in the Channel Islands. In 2019 it was recorded from several sites on the south and east coast of England. 2023 was the first year with records from the Norfolk Brecks.

Ectophasia crassipennis

A male Ectophasia crassipennis on a Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) flower. Norfolk Brecks, 30th July 2023. We had seen a female of the same species nearby four days earlier.

Notes

Note 1 – The BSBI uses the name Clinopodium acinos, as does Clive Stace in his New Flora (“New Flora of the British Isles“ by Clive Stace, Fourth Edition, 2019). Prior to a revision of the Lamiaceae in 2004 the plant was known as Acinos arvensis. The older name for the Lamiaceae, which I learnt as a child and used at university in the early 1980s, was the Labiatae.

Note 2 – The BSBI species account says the leaves are “faintly aromatic“, while Mike Crew says they are “strongly aromatic“. (The pungency will depend on the weather and perhaps growing conditions, as well as the observer’s sense of smell.)

Note 3 – https://plantnetwork.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/4714/clinacin.pdf lists the number of native sites for Basil Thyme in each county in Scotland, England and Wales. The document is undated. The only Scottish site listed is in East Lothian, rather than Moray. Overall, Norfolk leads with 28 sites, with Wiltshire next with 16 sites. There are seven sites listed for Suffolk, where Basil Thyme is a Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service priority species.

Note 4 – For the United States, Plants of the World Online lists New York, Vermont and Wisconsin but the Native Plant Trust lists Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont in New England. A BONAP (Biota of North America Program) map on the Native Plant Trust website shows a wider distribution for Clinopodium acinos in the United States.

Five Fungi from the Lanes of Norfolk

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by

Last month I looked at five fungi from my local streets in Norwich. But I’ve seen plenty more fungi by bike and here is a selection of five more from this summer and autumn, all seen within ten miles of home.

Ringed Milkcap, Lactarius circellatus

In early August Ringed Milkcaps, Lactarius circellatus, appeared in their usual spot under Hornbeam trees in Earlham Cemetery.

Ringed Milkcaps were found in Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood in the 1990s so I decided to cycle out to re-find them. I succeeded in my quest.

Better still, I found Ringed Milkcaps at a new site, growing under Common Hornbeams on a road verge on my way out to the wood.

Ringed Milkcap, Lactarius circellatus

Ringed Milkcap, Lactarius circellatus. Earlham Cemetery, Norwich, 8th August 2023.

Ringed Milkcaps have depressed caps with grey-brown rings, and the fairly crowded gills start pale cream and become pinkish buff with age. They smell fruity and their milk is rather abundant and white, turning slowly yellowish. The milk tastes acrid and leaves a bitter taste at the back of the tongue (note 1). The fungus isn’t considered edible.

Milkcaps form mycorrhizal relationships with trees, providing water and minerals for the tree in exchange for carbon manufactured by photosynthesis.

Lactarius circellatus forms a mycorrhizal relationship with Common Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus (note 2).

Common Hornbeam is native in south-east England, but has been widely planted elsewhere in the British Isles. Lactarius circellatus is not particularly common, with only nine records in Norfolk to the end of 2022. Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood is full of Common Hornbeams but in August I only found Ringed Milkcap in a couple of places. Similarly, although there were ten (planted) Common Hornbeam trees on the verge, I only found the fungi underneath one tree.

Ringed Milkcap, Lactarius circellatus

Ringed Milkcap, Lactarius circellatus, under a Common Hornbeam on a road verge. 10th August 2023.

Iodine Bolete, Hemileccinum impolitum

We were cycling home from a trip to South Norfolk at the end of September when Vanna spotted a large bolete growing on a road verge. We stopped to take a look and found two more, including a smaller, younger specimen which we took home to identify (note 3). We had found our first Iodine Boletes, Hemileccinum impolitum (formerly Boletus impolitus).

Iodine Boletes form a mycorrhizal relationship with a variety of broadleaved trees – ours were near an English oak (Quercus robur).

Iodine Bolete, Hemileccinum impolitum

Iodine Bolete, Hemileccinum impolitum. 30th September 2023.

Unlike many of its relatives, the Iodine Bolete doesn’t change colour when cut or bruised. The cap is a felty, greyish beige and the pores are lemon yellow. (“Impolitum” refers to the rustic, unfinished or unpolished appearance of the cap.)

Cutting open the fruitbody reveals beautiful lemon yellow flesh. There is a distinctive smell of iodoform (hospital disinfectant) at the base of the stem, which gives the fungus its English name.

Iodine Bolete, Hemileccinum impolitum

Iodine Bolete, Hemileccinum impolitum. 30th September 2023.

Iodine Bolete is not a common fungus and there are only 15 records in Norfolk to the end of 2022. As it isn’t common, the First Nature website rightly recommends that this “edible although hardly delectable” fungus “should not be picked for the pot” and I would normally follow this advice. However, I’d already picked my specimen for identification so I decided to fry the remains in butter and thoroughly enjoyed both the taste and texture.

Flame Shield, Pluteus aurantiorugosus

Shield fungi (whose generic name Pluteus means “shield, protective fence or screen”) grow on decaying wood and come in a variety of colours.

The Deer Shield (Pluteus cervinus) has a brown cap, the Willow Shield (P. salicinus) has a grey cap and the cap of the Yellow Shield (P. chrysophlebius) is a bright greenish-yellow or golden yellow. But it’s hard to beat a Flame Shield, Pluteus aurantiorugosus, with its stunning flame orange cap. Underneath the cap, the gills start off white and become pink at maturity, and the spores are brownish-pink. The edges of the cap are usually yellowish-orange.

Flame Shield, Pluteus aurantiorugosus

Flame Shield, Pluteus aurantiorugosus. 24th October 2023.

I wasn’t expecting to find a Flame Shield at ground level on a road verge but sharp-eyed Vanna spotted a glint of orange as we cycled past, and there it was. I’m used to seeing shields on substantial logs or dead tree branches but this one appeared to be growing on the soil. It must have been attached to a piece of rotting wood beneath the surface.

Up to the end of 2022 there were only eight records of Flame Shield in Norfolk but 2023 seems to have been a good year for them and I’ve seen the species three times since the end of September.

The Flame Shield is in the family Pluteaceae, as is the…

Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus

Stubble Rosegills, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus, sometimes grow on stubble fields after harvest, feeding on the remains of the crop. They also grow on road verges and this is where I usually find them (note 4).

Last year we saw most of our Stubble Rosegills on one day in November, on a cycle ride to Suffolk. This year they were abundant in early October.

The Stubble Rosegill is a very distinctive fungus and in its prime it is a great beauty. Young specimens are white and soon become pale grey, ageing to the colour of milky coffee. The cap is sticky when moist but silkily tactile when dry. The gills are crowded, starting white and becoming pink.

A Stubble Rosegill’s stem is often hidden in grass but if you gently part the leaves there is a fleshy bag-like volva at the base of the stem, as in species of Amanita (such as Fly Agaric and Deathcap). Be careful when you move the grass leaves, though. The Stubble Rosegill  looks robust but it’s actually rather flimsy and the grass may all that is keeping the fungus upright.

The Stubble Rosegill is quite a common fungus and there are 221 records from Norfolk up to the end of 2022.

Here is a sequence of the development of Stubble Rosegills, in pictures:

Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus

A young Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus. Growing on straw, 8th October 2023.

Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus

A Stubble Rosegill in its prime, showing the volva at the base of the stem. 13th November 2022.

Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus

An older Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus. 13th November 2022.

The “volvo” in the generic name Volvopluteus refers to the volva at the base of the stem (note 5). The specific name gloiocephalus comes from the Greek words gloio (glue) and cephalus (head), a reference to the stickiness of the cap when wet. Older books refer to the Stubble Rosegill as Volvariella gloiocephala.

I haven’t tried eating Stubble Rosegills and I don’t pick them because I can identify them in the field but apparently they are edible but not highly rated. There is the danger that, with their volva, an inexperienced forager could mistake them for a toxic Amanita (such as the white form of Deathcap or the Destroying Angel), with fatal consequences (note 6).

Trooping Funnel, Infundibulicybe geotropa

Yesterday was gloriously sunny and quite mild and I went for my first bike ride since late November. The cold weather of the previous week had marked the end of autumn and I didn’t expect to see any fungi, so a group of Trooping Funnels (Infundibulicybe geotropa) was a pleasant surprise.

The Trooping Funnel is one of the few large mushrooms that can endure mild frosts, so specimens can survive right through to late December.

Trooping Funnel, Infundibulicybe geotropa

Trooping Funnel, Infundibulicybe geotropa. 8th December 2023.

Trooping Funnels grow in deciduous and coniferous woodland, especially with Beech and oaks. Mine were in deciduous woodland by the side of the road, growing in a line, but they often form fairy rings, which can persist for many years. One in France measures half a mile across and is estimated to be 800 years old. They are stately fungi with strongly decurrent gills under a conical or bell-shaped cap.

Trooping Funnels, Infundibulicybe geotropa

Trooping through the woods – Trooping Funnels, Infundibulicybe geotropa. 8th December 2023.

An older name for Trooping Funnel was Clitocybe geotropa. Clitocybe means “sloping head” and geotropa means “turn towards the earth”, because the cap margin in young specimens turns downwards. Older caps are more flattened.

The new genus Infundibulicybe was created in 2003.

This is another fungus I haven’t eaten, but it is edible when young (note 7).

Notes

Note 1 – ‘Circellatus‘ means ‘”with circular zones”, referring to the rings on the cap.

The genus name, Lactarius, is derived from the Latin “lac“, meaning milk. The “milk” (also known as “latex”) is a fluid produced when the fungus is damaged and its function is probably to clog up the mouthparts of insects and other tiny animals that try to eat the milkcap. Anecdotal evidence supports this theory – I find that milkcaps’ close relatives the Brittlegills (Russula spp) have usually been nibbled by slugs, while milkcaps remain intact.

Taste is a useful tool in the identification of milkcaps. If you dab a bit of milk on your tongue, it can be mild or acrid (hot) or bitter. (The idea is not to actually eat the fungus – you spit out any residue and, if it is hot or bitter, can rinse out your mouth with water.) The milk’s colour is useful too, and whether it changes colour after several minutes – best seen when a spot of milk is dabbed on a paper tissue. Species also differ in their milk’s consistency (from watery to thick) and how abundantly it is produced.

For milkcap identification I use “British Milkcaps: Lactarius and Lactifluus” (2016) and “Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe – Volume 1” (2017), both by Geoffrey Kibby. “The Genus Lactarius” by Jacob Heilman-Clausen, Annemieke Verbeken and Jan Vesterholt (1998) is also well worth a look.

Note 2 – As you’ll know from reading some of my other blog posts, such as the one on Rooting Bolete (August 2023), it is usually necessary to cut open a bolete to look at its internal colour and whether it changes colour on cutting. I do this on the spot for larger specimens but sometimes I take smaller specimens home, where I have time to observe any changes and the necessary reference books.

Note 3 – The Picture Mushroom website (and app) and Mycota of Alaska website say that Lactarius circellatus grows in moss under Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) and spruce (Picea). But in Britain, it is only found with Common Hornbeam.

Note 4 – The Stubble Rosegill is usually found on the remains of a grain crop but it will also grow on the leftovers of other food crops, such as cabbages.

Note 5 – In contrast the name of the car, “Volvo”, comes from Latin for “I roll”.)

Note 6 – I like this excerpt from an article about mushroom hunting on Vancouver Island in Canada:

‘“Is that one edible?” someone asks.

“Well sure, it’s edible. But it’s not very good,” he says. “It’s funny how many people ask that. Almost all mushrooms are edible, but so are most birds. You don’t hear birders asking if all the birds they spot are edible.” 

There’s an Eastern European quote, borrowed by author Terry Pratchett, that comes to mind: All mushrooms are edible; however, some are edible only once.’

Note 7 – In contrast the Ivory Funnel, also known appropriately as the Fool’s Funnel (Clitocybe rivulosa), is very toxic. It tends to grow in short turf on lawns.

Five Fungi from the Streets of Norwich

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by

I live in the south-western suburbs of Norwich and I’m very fortunate to have plenty of tree-lined streets with grass verges near home. As a consequence, I often find interesting fungi on my walks, sometimes just on a trip to the local shops.

Here are five recent finds.

Ganoderma resinaceum

Last summer some large objects appeared on a grass verge not far from home. With a few added toppings they could easily have been family-sized thick-crust pizzas.

Ganoderma resinaceum

Ganoderma resinaceum

The objects were fruitbodies of a large bracket fungus, Ganoderma resinaceum, which is parasitic on broadleaved trees, especially oaks and Beech. The fungus was growing on the remains of a Red Oak (Quercus rubra) that had toppled over in a gale several years ago. It had presumably started to eat the tree while it was alive and then continued to digest its remains.

Like its close relatives Southern Bracket (Ganoderma adspersum), Artist’s Bracket (Ganoderma applanatum) and Lacquered Bracket (Ganoderma lucidum) it can grow at the base of tree trunks. However, I’ve only seen it growing on the ground, feeding on the remains of tree roots.

I found another Ganoderma resinaceum this summer on a verge south-west of Norwich, growing on another subterranean oak root. Over the weeks I watched it grow in size from small bread roll to medium loaf but it didn’t reach pizza size, presumably because it had a more limited food supply. Similarly, my local specimens were much smaller this summer, suggesting that the remnants of the Red Oak are dwindling.

Ganoderma resinaceum

Ganoderma resinaceum

Although Ganoderma resinaceum can resemble a pizza, the resemblance ends there. The fungus has a spicy smell but apparently tastes bitter and is far too tough to be edible.

Ganoderma comes from the Greek words Ganos and derma and means ‘shining skin’. (The wet cap of Lacquered Bracket, Ganoderma lucidum, is the finest example of this.)

The specific name resinaceum means ‘resinous’. The fungus has a hard resinous coating which will melt when set alight. I haven’t tried this yet; next year, perhaps.

Mealy Domecap, Tricholomella constricta

Mealy Domecap, Tricholomella constricta

Tricholomella constricta – Mealy Domecap. Photo: Vanna Bartlett.

Last October, while walking home from the shops, I found some bright white fungi growing on a road verge. They completely puzzled me but Yvonne from the Norfolk Fungus Study Group came to the rescue and identified them as Mealy Domecap, Tricholomella contricta.

The species has also been seen at Whitlingham Lane in Norwich and in the grounds of the University of East Anglia. It appears to favour road verges where dogs urinate (note 1). Knowing this, James Emerson searched likely places in the north of Norwich and soon found the fungus in a spot in New Catton.

Now that I’m familiar with this fungus, it’s easy to recognise. It has a bright white cap, white notched-adnexed gills and a rooting, tapered white stem with a small ring. The fruitbodies smell farinaceous (floury) and are quite robust. Each one can last for a week or two, even in rainy weather.

Vanna found me some more specimens this year, growing on another grass verge in Norwich, in a spot popular with dog walkers.

Tricholomella constricta

Tricholomella constricta

Andy Overall found the fungus growing in Holland Park in London in 2011 (note 1).

Ascot Hat, Hortiboletus bubalinus

Ascot Hat, Hortiboletus bubalinus

Ascot Hat, Hortiboletus bubalinus

At the time of writing the Ascot Hat, Hortiboletus bubalinus, has only been seen in Norfolk four times, all in Norwich. Last autumn James Emerson found the first one not far from the city centre, followed a month later by a second sighting made at the University of East Anglia by Ian Senior.

This year I’ve followed up with the third and fourth sightings, from a road verge under Common Limes, and under pine trees in my local cemetery.

Hortiboletus bubalinus is a handsome fungus but is very easy to miss when growing on a grass verge, where its cap (in various shades of pinkish-, yellowish- or reddish-brown or dull apricot) blends into the background.

But if you take a closer look it is an exquisite fungus. Its pores bruise blue when handled, like several other species of bolete and if you cut it open the cap is reddish-brown on top with a pink layer, before staining light blue further down. The colour scheme has been described as being like “sunrise over the sea” (note 2).

Hortiboletus bubalinus

“Sunrise over the sea”. Cut open: Hortiboletus bubalinus

Hortiboletus bubalinus was only described in 1991. It was originally known as Boletus bubalinus and became Xerocomus bubalinus in 1993. It was transferred to Hortiboletus in 2015. It appears to be quite new in Britain and was first recorded near Ascot. The Guardian asked for suggestions for an English name back in June 2011 and the English name is now Ascot Hat, which makes more sense when you know about its origin in Britain.

Ganoderma resinaceum is a parasite and Mealy Domecap is presumably a saprobe (eating dead organic matter). Ascot Hat has a symbiotic relationship with trees, helping them take up water and minerals in exchange for carbon from the tree.

It appears to form mycorrhizal relationships with a range of trees, including limes (Tilia), poplars (Populus), Beech (Fagus), birch (Betula), spruce (Picea) and Hornbeam (Carpinus). One of my specimens was growing with Common Lime (Tilia x europaea) and  the other near Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris).

Hortiboletus bubalinus is edible but I haven’t tried it and probably won’t, given its apparent scarcity in Norfolk. I returned my specimens so that they could continue to release their spores.

Warty Cavalier, Melanoleuca verrucipes

Warty Cavalier, Melanoleuca verrucipes

Warty Cavalier, Melanoleuca verrucipes

At the beginning of October I found Warty Cavaliers (Melanoleuca verrucipes) in woodland at the end of my local park. At first I thought the dark marks on the stems was just where soil had splashed upwards in the rain. I took one home to identify.

This was just the fourth record for Norfolk. Warty Cavaliers like to grow on woodchip and this had been spread along the path through the wood, spilling off into the woodland where the fungi were growing. Melanoleuca verrucipes is a saprobe and its favourite meal is wood chip mulch. It was first recorded in Britain in 2000 and is probably an introduction (note 3).

The genus name Melanoleuca comes from the Ancient Greek melas (black) and leucos (white) and other fungi in this genus (Cavaliers in English) have a dark top to the cap and contrasting white gills. Warty Cavalier looks rather different, making it quite easy to identify once you know where to look. Verrucipes means ‘with warty foot’ and refers to the stem.

Under the microscope, Melanoleuca verrucipes has rather nice urticoid cheilocystidia. I explain more in note 4 below.

Warty Knight, Melanoleuca verrucipes - urticoid cheilocystidia

Warty Cavalier, Melanoleuca verrucipes – its urticoid cheilocystidia.

The Warty Knight may be edible but is likely to be “nothing special“. I wouldn’t bother.

The First Nature website has more photographs of Warty Cavalier, including the spores.

Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis

My fifth fungus is Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis.

I was very puzzled when I first saw this fungus, growing on the underground remains of another tree (possibly another Red Oak). It looked like it might turn into a bracket of some kind, but which species?

I posted a photograph on the Norfolk Fungus Study Group Facebook page and Neil Mahler came up with an identification: Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis.

Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis

Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis. 11th October 2023.

Rosette, what rosette?

I made a return visit at the end of the month and it was very much in evidence.

Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis

Twenty days later: Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis. 31st October 2023.

But the prize for the wackiest specimen of Blushing Rosette must go to a huge outpouring of growth on a fallen tree trunk in Earlham Park in Norwich, which Vanna found earlier this month. It resembles a series of volcanic cones rather than a fungus.

Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis

Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis. Earlham Park, Norwich, November 2023.

Abortiporus biennis is another saprobic fungus, feeding on the dead remains of broadleaf tree roots and stumps.

If you look at the underside of the rosette you will see a network of white or buff angular pores.

The genus name, Abortiporus, comes from the Latin Abortus– meaning arrested development (of an organism), and –porus, derived from ancient Greek and meaning a pore. The specific name biennis is misleading. Biennis means biennial but the fruitbodies are annual. The fungus isn’t edible and you might break your teeth if you tried to eat it.

The First Nature website has more photographs of Blushing Rosette, including the spores.

Notes

Note 1 – One Norfolk record was from a cat latrine and another specimen was growing in Earlham Cemetery, possibly on an animal latrine (although some people insist on ignoring the “No Dogs” signs).

In his article “Urban Fungi – interesting fungi from parks and gardens of West London” (Field Mycology Vol. 14 pp98 – 102, 2011) Andy Overall notes “This species is known to favour urine-enriched sites …more probably the common factor is merely the presence of dogs.”

Note 2 – A post on Reddit by “the frisker” mentions the “Sunrise over the sea” nickname and gives “Aurora Bolete” as a Scandinavian name for Hortiboletus bubalinus. “Sunrise above the sea” is mentioned in “Fungi of Temperate Europe” (page 786) by Thomas Læssøe and Jens H Petersen (Princeton University Press, 2019).

Note 3 – Geoffrey Kibby (2020), “Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe – Volume 2, Agarics – part 1”. (One of four superb volumes for identifying British Basidiomycete fungi.)

Note 4 – Cystidia are relatively large cells found in various places on the fruitbody of a Basidiomycete fungus. They vary in shape between species and this can be key to the microscopic identification of fungi.

Cheilocystidia are cells that project from the edge of the gill of a fungus fruitbody. “Urticoid” means shaped like a stinging-nettle hair (with a long straight pointed section and a swollen base).