Daisy Bush, Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’

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Brachyglottis 'Sunshine'

Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ with a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.

We all need some sunshine, especially on a dull and damp December day.

Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ provides cheer during the winter with its mass of evergreen, greyish, ovate leaves backed with white felt. It then provides an extra treat in June and July with its yellow daisy flowers (hence the name ‘Daisy Bush’). It is a popular garden shrub and was one of my Dad’s favourites, so I have fond memories of it from early childhood.

My Dad knew Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ as Senecio greyi, which has now been reclassified as Brachyglottis greyi. This is a native of New Zealand’s North Island, where it grows on rocky outcrops on the coast in hot sunny places with poor soils, eventually forming mounds up to 2 metres (6.5 feet) tall and 1.8 metres (6 feet) wide. It is a member of the Asteraceae, the daisy family (note 1).

However, Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ is not pure Brachyglottis greyi, but one of the Dunedin Hybrids, the result of crosses originating in horticulture early in the twentieth century between three New Zealand species of Brachyglottis. The parent species are described on the NZ Flora website: Brachyglottis greyi, Brachyglottis laxifolia, and Brachyglottis compacta. B. laxifolia and B. compacta are shorter than B. greyi – both only grow to 1 metre (3.3 feet) tall.

Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ is a very adaptable garden plant. It is given a hardiness rating of H4 on the RHS website (hardy through most of the UK, -10 to -5 degrees Celsius) and likes sun or semi-shade on a variety of soils. It does is especially well where the soil is well drained. In our north-facing back garden it is doing well on sandy loam, where it is in the sun during the afternoon. When I was growing up, it also thrived in our gardens in North-east Scotland (slightly acidic loam) and the West Midlands (clay).

The shrub is also very tolerant of exposed seaside places and can be grown as a windbreak. My grandmother grew large and luxuriant specimens in her seaside garden on Anglesey in North Wales (note 2). From my own experience it is drought tolerant and doesn’t get damaged by slugs and snails. It is also resistant to deer and usually free of any pests or diseases. Low branches sometimes root and can be used to propagate new plants; it’s easy to take cuttings too.

It will spread out sideways to form a wide, low bush but it can be kept in check (or in a neater shape, perhaps as a hedge) by a regular prune during the growing season. The RHS website gives pruning instructions (pruning Group 8). If you just want the foliage, it is possible to remove the flowers, though for me they are a major part of the plant’s attraction.

Although it isn’t a native British species, Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ has been become naturalised in parts of the British Isles in the last thirty years, particularly in grassy places, on rough ground and in sand dunes. The plant is not edible and has no known medicinal uses, according to the Plants for a Future website.

For a non-native, it is a surprisingly good plant for wildlife. Butterflies (such as the Small Tortoiseshell pictured above) and hoverflies will visit the flowers and because the plant is a dense evergreen it is a favoured overwintering place for other insects. On warm days in spring in our back garden, Gorse Shieldbugs (Piezodorus lituratus) bask and sometimes mate on the leaves. Our Dunnocks (Prunella modularis) take advantage of this insect life by hunting on the ground beneath the branches.

Gorse Shieldbugs

Gorse Shieldbugs on the leaves of Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’.

Notes

Note 1 – I have already written about other members of the Asteraceae, including Oxeye Daisy, Pineapple Weed, Gallant Soldier, Dandelion, Mexican Fleabane, Nodding Bur-Marigold and Bristly Oxtongue. I give more information on the family and the structure of their flowers in my post on Nodding Bur-Marigold.

Note 2 – My grandmother’s Brachyglottis bushes seemed to tower high above me, but I was only a child so they were probably no more than 1.8 metres (six feet) tall.

More Sand Dune Fungi

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Last year I wrote about some of the specialised sand dune fungi I had seen at Holkham in North Norfolk. This autumn has been one of the best I’ve known for fungi, with plentiful rainfall starting in late September and continuing into November.

Earlier this week my friend Sarah and I visited Holme Dunes, a beautiful Norfolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve at Holme-next-the-Sea, in the north-west corner of Norfolk. It’s a place I’ve visited in the winter to see birds, but this time our mission was to see more fungi, some of them particularly associated with sand dunes.

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

Winter Stalkball, Tulostoma brumale

Winter Stalkball, Tulostoma brumale

We found Winter Stalkball, Tulostoma brumale, an exquisite little stalked puffball, no more than 3 centimetres (1.2 inches) tall, growing amongst mosses in the dunes. It’s one of those fungi where you spot a single specimen and then find a whole lot more nearby.

The First Nature website recommends looking in dune slacks just behind the first stable sand dune ridges, and this was exactly where we found them. Tulostoma brumale is described by Sterry and Hughes as a “distinctive lollipop-shaped puffball”, and by the First Nature website as “strange, almost other-worldly little fungi”. Both descriptions are very apt. The round head of the lollipop contains masses of spores, which are released through the hole at the top.

In spite of its exotic appearance, the Winter Stalkball is closely related to more familiar fungi such as Parasols (Macrolepiota procera) and the cultivated mushroom (Agaricus bisporus).

The fruit bodies of Winter Stalkballs persist throughout winter, into early spring. Winter Stalkballs are specialists of calcareous dunes but they can also grow on downland sites away from the coast or even on old walls with lime mortar. The NBN Atlas lists 284 records for the British Isles, mostly in southern England.

The specific name, brumale, means “of winter” and Tulostoma means “woolly club”.

Fomitiporia hippophaeicola

Formerly known as Phellinus hippophaeicola, this is a bracket fungus that grows on older, living branches of Sea Buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides.

The host plant is easy to recognise, a spiny bush with narrow lanceolate leaves with a silvery-green upper surface. Female plants are covered by a mass of distinctive orange berries in the autumn, which begin to bleach to white in early winter.

Sea Buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides

Sea Buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides

The fruiting body of Fomitiporia hippophaeicola is a semicircular, circular or hoof-shaped bracket. The upper surface is fawn, yellowish or rust brown with a velvety texture, becoming smoother and greyer with age. The underside is reddish brown, with  fine, rounded pores.

Fomitiporia hippophaeicola

Fomitiporia hippophaeicola on Sea Buckthorn.

Obligingly, the brackets were growing about four feet (1.2 metres) off the ground, so were easy to photograph.

Fomitiporia hippophaeicola

This is not a very common fungus and is restricted to older Sea Buckthorn bushes in coastal areas, including Norfolk, Lincolnshire, the Edinbugh area, South Wales and a few places on the south coast of England.

Collared Earthstar, Geastrum triplex

In contrast to the rare and small Tiny and Dwarf Earthstars I wrote about last October, the Collared Earthstar is not a dune specialist. It one of our commonest species of Geastrum. Nonetheless, it is a magnificent sight and I’m always glad to see it.

Collared Earthstar, Geastrum triplex

Collared Earthstar, Geastrum triplex

Young specimens of Geastrum triplex are onion-shaped, then the outer layer of the fruit body splits into five to seven rays that are 5 – 11cm across when fully open. The Collared Earthstar’s flesh is creamy buff, maturing to brown and cracking with age.

It can be found on free-draining soils rich in humus, under deciduous or coniferous trees and even on woodchip, including in gardens. The specimens we found were growing near pine trees.

Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica

Waxcap fungi, which I wrote about in November 2013, are found in “unimproved” grassland (which has not been damaged by the application of artificial fertilisers). The Blackening Waxcap is one of the commonest species, with nearly 7000 records in the NBN Atlas. It isn’t just confined to dunes – we have it in Earlham Cemetery in Norwich.

Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica

Blackening Waxcaps, Hygrocybe conica

The fruit body is red, orange or yellow when young, but older specimens gradually turn black and can persist for many weeks. The caps vary in shape, but start off conical, hence the specific name, conica. The old specimens in my photograph are totally black but still have a characteristic umbo (pointed dome) at the top.

Grey Knight, Tricholoma terreum

Underneath the pine trees we found some handsome fungi with grey, felty caps and greyish white stipes. These were Grey Knights, Tricholoma terreum.

Grey Knights, Tricholoma terreum

Grey Knights, Tricholoma terreum

They usually occur in groups and like calcareous to neutral soil where pines are growing.  The specific name terreum means “earth”, presumably referring to the colour of the cap. There are over a thousand records of this fungus in the NBN Atlas.

References

As with my previous post about Sand Dune Fungi, there is not that much information on the internet about these fungi, compared to some of the subjects I have written about. I have relied heavily on the First Nature website for much of the information and the NBN Atlas website for details of distribution in the British Isles. Other sources include Wikipedia and, as ever, the excellent book “Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms & Toadstools” by Paul Sterry and Barry Hughes (Harper Collins 2009).

Common Bird’s-nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve

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Common Bird's-nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve

Common Bird’s-nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve, growing in our greenhouse.

A week ago I cleared the last tomato plants out of our greenhouse in the back garden and brought the last green tomatoes indoors to ripen (note 1). As I pulled up the tomato plants, I had a lovely surprise: a little cluster of bird’s-nest fungi on the soil.

Bird’s-nest fungi have fruiting bodies that resemble tiny birds’ nests, complete with eggs. The fungi feed on decaying organic matter and can be found on soils containing plant debris such as little twigs, on wood chip and bark mulch, or growing on decaying wood.

Bird’s-nest fungi are members of the family Nidulariaceae (nidulus means small nest), part of the order Agaricales, which includes familiar species of fungi such as cultivated mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) and  well-known wild species such as Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus, which I have already written about) and Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).

Worldwide, there are five genera of fungi in the Nidulariaceae: Crucibulum, Cyathus, Nidularia, Mycocalia, and Nidula (note 2).

The species I found in the greenhouse was the Common Bird’s-nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve, one of the most common species. It can usually be found growing in small clusters in late autumn and winter. (I counted nine fruit bodies, growing singly or in small groups.)

Common Bird’s Nest fungi are found through much of the British Isles and in mainland Europe and Asia, as well other temperate areas, including many parts of North America. They are probably overlooked due to their small size and the way they blend with their background – I like to think I am observant, but it didn’t spot them until I’d nearly finished work in the greenhouse.

To start with, the fungus’ cups are covered in a fragile yellowish membrane, known as the epiphragm. This soon breaks apart as the fruit body expands to form the “nest” –  a cup that contains a number of small white “eggs” (note 3). These are actually spore packets, known as peridioles. Each peridiole is attached to the the cup wall by a thread known as a funiculus.

Common Bird's-nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve

Three young specimens of Common Bird’s-nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve. In the lower two the epiphragm is just starting to break.

The peridioles of bird’s-nest fungi are spread by the splashing of raindrops, which fall into the cup and send them flying. The attached funiculus helps the periodiole on its journey and when it lands may coil around a grass stem, preventing further flight. Ideally a passing grazing animal will then eat the grass and the periodiole will pass through the animal’s body unharmed and arrive in a new location in a parcel of nutritious dung. In the greenhouse any water drops will come from my watering can and there aren’t any grazing animals (unless you count slugs, snails or woodlice) but the fungi should disperse their spores just fine (note 4).

Other types of bird’s-nest fungi you may find in Britain include the following:

This autumn I’ve also seen Field Bird’s-nest and Fluted Bird’s-nest in Norwich, but I have never encountered Dung Bird’s-nest or Pea-shaped Bird’s-nest.

Field Bird's-nest, Cyathus olla

Field Bird’s-nest, Cyathus olla

Fluted Bird's-nest, Cyathus striatus

Fluted Bird’s-nest, Cyathus striatus. Taken in low light conditions, this is not the best of pictures, but the fluting inside the cup makes the fungus easily recognisable.

Notes

Note 1 – If any tomatoes are stubborn to ripen I will put them in a paper bag or shoe box with a banana. This will eventually sacrifice the banana, but the ethylene gas it gives off will help to ripen the tomatoes.

Note 2 – In Britain, you are most likely to encounter members of the first three genera, although the NBN Atlas lists 144 records for Mycocalia denudata at the time of writing. It is a tiny member of the family. In Germany it has been recorded from decaying plant remains and also on rabbit and sheep dung. In New Brunswick (Canada) it has been recorded on lemming dung. There are photographs of Mycocalia denudata on both these websites.

There are five species of Nidula worldwide, which can be found in North America, Japan, the Himalayas and parts of the Caribbean, but not in Britain.

Note 3 – The First Nature website says that the cup contains 5 – 10 “eggs” (peridioles) but Geoffrey Kibby, in his book “Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe, Volume 1” (2017)  says that the number ranges from 10 – 15, with sometimes as many as 20 per cup. Sterry and Hughes say 10 -15. I counted eleven “eggs” in one of my smaller specimens.

Kibby gives Crucibulum laeve the more descriptive English name of White-egg Bird’s-nest; Common Bird’s-nest is used more generally, including in Sterry and Hughes in “Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools” (2009).

Crucibulum means crucible and laeve means smooth.

Note 4 – The New Brunswick Museum web page on Bird’s-nest Fungi cites some fascinating work that was done on artificial bird’s-nest fungi, described in Harold Brodie’s book “The Bird’s Nest Fungi” (University of Toronto Press, 1975). Brodie and Buller found that the angle of the cup walls is critical to the distance the peridioles can travel. “Too great or too little an angle and they will not travel as far. The ideal angle for dispersal by large raindrops having a terminal velocity of 4-8 meters per second is between 60 and 70 degrees with the horizontal.”