FUNGI WALK

As the season shifts in Autumn, what better time than to get out and check out the fungi that is starting to pop up around us. This Saturday, as one of our Grow Wild events, Rich Wright, of Fungi Course led 24 of us on a fungi walk around Cathays Cemetery.

Cathays Cemetery

Milky cone cup

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Roger, of the Friends of Cathays Cemetery introduced us to the location. Established in 1859, apparently Cathays Cemetery is one of the largest Victorian cemeteries in England and Wales. As we kicked off the walk, Rich led us to the first spotting - the Milky cone cup mushroom, one of the 'Little Brown Jobs'.

Agaric sp.

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We then walked only a little further to a spot where Rich identified one of the Agaric species. Turns out fungi are all around us if you know where to look! Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi. As Rich explained, there are endophitic, mycorrhizal and saprophytic fungi. The Agaric species are mycorrhizal (meaning that they form associations with plant roots).

Decomposing trunk of the Holm Oak

iant polypore (Meripilus giganteus)

dead wood

We then reached a large decomposing trunk which was surrounded by the fruiting body of the saprophytic fungi Giant polypore (Meripilus giganteus). Saprophytes feed on dead and decomposing matter. Interestingly, one of the friends of the cemetery affirmed that the trunk surrounded by the Giant polypore was a Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) and in fact one of the largest in the cemetery. It started decaying after a windy storm when several of the branches were damaged.

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epia Bolete (Xerocomellus porospous)

Looking it up

Rich then pointed out a Sepia Bolete (Xerocomellus porospous) which can turn blue cut.