Fungi
Fungi are not plants but belong in a kingdom of their own. Their cell walls are made of chitin (like Insects) and instead of photosynthesising they obtain energy by digesting organic matter. They can be divided into three nutritional groups:
| - | Saprophytes are probably the most numerous, performing a vital role in breaking down dead organic matter such as wood and leaf litter, e.g. wascaps and stinkhorns. |
| - | Parasites attack a living host. A plant parasite commonly seen locally is the honey fungus Armillaria mellea. Animal parasites include the Scarlet Caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps militaris) whose orange to scarlet fruit-bodies sprouting from buried caterpillar corpses are a common autumnal sight in grassland throughout Lancashire. |
| - | Symbionts live in close association with another organism to their mutual benefit, for example lichens which are associations between algae and fungi, and mycorrhizal fungi which infect plant roots. The fungus benefits by receiving sugars from a plant and the plant obtains phosphates and other nutrients from the fungus. Mycorrhizal fungi in our woodlands are usually macro-fungi, such as the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) and Death Cap (Amanita phalloides), which is why such species only occur in association with certain species of tree. In grasslands, this role generally performed by micro-fungi, which lack visible fruiting bodies so their presence is not obvious. Mycorhizal associations probably occur in 85% of plant species. They play a crucial role in determining plant survival and plant community structure, while plants such as orchids cannot germinate without their mycorrhizal fungi. |
The vast Fungal Kingdom dominates almost every habitat , yet it is shrouded in mystery. In Britian 12,000 species are known, not including lichens, but this figure is far from complete. 120 new species are being found every year and it is likely that the true figure far exceeds 20.000.
Fungi have reclusive habitats; they are composed of microscopic filaments or ‘hyphae’, hidden away in the substrates on which they feed, offering little, or no impression of how profoundly they shape the world around them. Clues to their presence are fleeting and usually related to reproduction, for many species are extroverts – sprouting an extraordinary variety of spore-producing structures that are clearly visible to the naked eye. These so-called ‘macro-fungi’ offer the naturalist a ready portal into the mysteries of the Kingdom and our knowledge of the fungi of Lancashire is largely confined to them.
Lancashire fungi
Macro-fungi occur in every terrestrial habitat in Lancashire, but are most diverse in old woodlands, grasslands and dunes. The county is blessed with many prime examples of these habitats, and the climate and the broad spectrum of soils and geology add further to the diversity.
The richest known site in the county is Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve, near Silverdale, with nearly 1,200 species recorded within its woodland, grassland and wetland habitats, including the rare wet woodland species Amanita friabilis. Associated with alder, it produces a small greyish toadstool. Better known, and much more widely distributed in woodlands throughout the country, are two closely related species: the Fly Agaric, associated with birch, and the Death Cap, associated with oak. The Death Cap is well named, for even a fragment of the fruit body can kill. It has a pale, yellow-green colour, with a bag-like base and a ring around its mid-riff. The Fly Agaric, with white flecks on a brilliant red cap, is the archetypal toadstool of northern mythology, particularly associated with pixies (unsurprising, when one considers the fruit body’s hallucinogenic properties!). Experimentation is dangerous, however, since it also contains many of the same toxins as the Death Cap.
Grassland fungi are most diverse on unimproved pastures, particularly around Silverdale and the fringes of the West Pennines and Bowland Fells. Most striking are the brightly coloured ‘waxcaps’ and, with white, yellow, orange, green, scarlet and pink species, few flowers can rival the sheer exuberance of their colours. At up to 15cm across, the largest of these is the Crimson Waxcap (Hygrocybe punicea).
It favours calcareous pastures, though not exclusively, and is at home in the Silverdale area on such sites as Jack Scout. By contrast, the Ballerina Waxcap (H. calyptriformis) favours the neutral to acid soils of the upland fringes. With a pink conical cap like a tutu, and a stalk or ’stripe’ of pure white, it is an extraordinary sight.
These waxcaps, and many other grassland fungi, have become rare in the UK as a result of intensive farming methods, but many sites in Lancashire remain a stronghold for them. In a four hectares area of grassland near Whalley, for instance, nearly 600 macro-fungi have been recorded, including a remarkable 35 species of waxcaps (over half of all known northern European species). Doubtless, more such sites await discovery.
Finally, a tour of Lancashire’s fungi would be incomplete without mention of the Common Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus), a peculiar, 20cm high phallus sprouting from a gelatinous ball which, it is said, so offended the sensibilities of some Victorian ladies that they resolved to purge it froum our countryside. They failed, for it remains extremely common in woodlands, easily located by the vile stench it produces to attract spore-dispersing flies.
For Further Reading visit the North West Fungus Group here http://fungus.org.uk/nwfg.htm
Richard David Thomson