These pages highlight interesting records made not just on NIFG forays. So if you have any good finds, please send them to me contacting me at . This could include any records in Ireland, not just Northern Ireland.  More interesting records from Roy Anderson. First of all, a few species new to Northern Ireland. Cantharellula umbonata with markedly forked gills amongst moss on Cave Hill in early November,  Coprinus friesii from Keenaghan Lough in Fermanagh on June 18 and Amylostereum chailletii (record details to follow). Cantharellula umbonata Coprinus friesii Amylostereum chailletii Nicky Lynn found this striking fungus on a fungus for the first time in Ireland at the RSPB Belfast Lagoon reserve. Here, the parasite, Volvariella surrecta, can be seen coming out of a volva on top of the Clouded Agaric, Clitocybe nebularis. The previous most northerly record of this species in the British Isles in the BMSFRD was Lincolnshire so this is quite a find!! Volvariella surrecta Some hydnoids from Donegal found by Stuart Dunlop. First of all, Stuart found Phellodon melaleucus (smelling strongly of fenugreek ) and a possible Hydnellum spongiosipes in Ards Forest and then what looks like Hydnellum concrescens from Steeple Wood near Raphoe.  Phellodon melaleucas Although very dry, the season is beginning if you look hard. Here are a few of the good finds so far: Ronnie Irvine found Boletus rubellus in Drum Manor. Although common in the south of the British Isles, it is not found often in Northern Ireland (3 records).  Arlette found Pleurotus pulmonarius on the foray to Slieve Gullion and although from Wales and not NI, I just have to pop in a photo of boletus parasiticus fruiting out of Scleroderma citrinum. It is thought not really to be parasitic, but living together with the Scleroderma (both are ectomycorrhizal). Quite what they are doing and why is another question....   It is early summer and the first signs of the season to come are here. This is Agrocybe pediades from my garden. It is a delicate fungus, noted by its round cells in the cap, brown spores, mealy taste and hints of velar remains on the cap. Agrocybe pediades   Another new Irish record - this time for a truffle. Robert Cobain from Bangor found a pinkish truffle under a young three year old Eucalyptus tree in his garden, Curiously, it was grown from seed so the truffle didn't come in the root ball of the tree. So how did it get there?? There must be more around.... It is very recognisable with the pink colours and the intricate internal structure. An exciting observation! Hydnangium carneum - Photo by Robert Cobain A new Irish record for a Bolete. Alan Hills has confirmed Stuart Dunlop's find of Suillus flavidus from Mongorrey Wood outside Raphoe in Donegal from September 2004. This is a Scots Pine associate often found in Scotland in boggy natural Scots Pine woods. It is noted by its paler yellow colours (than Slippery Jack, Suillus luteus), slender form and the thin jelly like ring.   Suillus flavidus  - photos by Stuart Dunlop Some updates from Roy Anderson's latest ascomycete finds.  Nemania aenea var. macrospora was found in Rostrevor Oakwood on 17th March 2005. On decayed, soft heartwood of holly in Quercus petraea wood. First Irish record. There is a single British record, but status of this uncertain. Characterised by large spores (13-18 μm) and thick, whitish, waxy layer underlying the carbonaceous fruiting body. Rare in Europe. Nemania aenea var. macrospora       Photo Roy Anderson Hypoxylon macrocarpum found 3 times at Rea’s Wood(J143852) on 19.2.2005, Ardgillan Castle(O219609)/26.2.2005 and Belfast Castle(J329790)/13.3.2005. Segregate of the widespread Hypoxylon rubiginosum, but with greenish-brown rather than orange KOH-extractable pigments and very large fruiting bodies, up to 750cm long. Undersides of decorticated logs in wet places. Hypoxylon petriniae is ubiquitous on ash (Fraxinus) wood. Often confused with H. rubiginosum from which it is distinguished by its purplish- brown ascomata, lacking perithecial mounds and with a distinct black marginal layer. Also by its specificity for ash. H. rubiginosum occurs mainly on other woods and the ascomata have perithecial mounds and a strong rusty or orange colour without a marginal layer. Hypoxylon subticinense found 4 times at Belfast Castle(J328798)/14.11.2004, Lagan Meadows(J335704)/17.2. 2005, Rea’s Wood(J139852)/19.2i.2005 and Rea’s Wood(J141850)/5.3.2005. Found respectively on fallen beech branch, on dead Salix viminalis branches in a fen, on dead standing Salix fragilis and on fallen alder branch in carr litter. This species otherwise recorded only in SW France and Washington State, US. Characterised by bracket-like, hairy, bright orange immature fruiting bodies with yellow, hairy margins. The mature fruiting body looks like H. rubiginosum but without perithecial mounds and with distinct black spots where the ostioles emerge. Hypoxylon subticinense      Photo Roy Anderson Biscogniauxia anceps found at Charleville Demesne(N319226)/24.5.2003. On dead standing blackthorn branches; wet carr woodland. First Irish record. 2 English sites are mentioned in BMS database. Scarce in Europe, known from single sites in Italy and Spain, several in France.   Ronnie Irvine has been finding some good things in Tyrone again. He found Inocybe godeyi which is marked by white, quickly reddening fruiting bodies with a bulbous stipe and cystidia with encrusted crystals at the tip for the first time in Northern Ireland since 1948 and also Ramaria abietina which is recognised for going green. Inocybe godeyi   Splanchnonema scoriadea (Pleomassariaceae) turned up for the first time in Northern Ireland at Correll Glen, Co Fermanagh on 28 June 2004 on brittle dead twigs from a low hanging branch of a birch tree in the wood. Melina McMullen, Maria Cullen & Howard Fox were studying at birch epiphytes there for a monitoring project. The group of black flask shaped structures to 1mm diameter on the bark of the twig made it obvious that we had a pyrenomycete. On a slide under the microscope, the ascospores were colossal, 50-70 x 20 microns and 1 septate. The top cell of the ascospore was dark brown and many many times the size of the paler brown lower cell. This ascospore type is most unusual - unprecedented in my experience. There is an old record of Splanchnonema scoriadea made by David Moore in the 1860s from Killarney in the DBN herbarium, and there are only a handful of records on the BMSFRD. The pyrenomycetes of easily snapped white-rotted attached or recently shed twigs of various host tree species (Birch, Lime, Elder, Sycamore, Hazel, Oak, Gorse, etc.) are not so difficult to name - a microscope preparation of the perithecium contents (ascospores, asci, physes), and a copy of Ellis & Ellis with species descriptions on your desk will allow anyone so equipped to contribute new records of pyrenomycetes in Northern Ireland.  Hypocrea pulvinata (Hypocreaceae) was seen on the lower side of a birch polypore which had fallen from a dead birch, and had come to land ventral face up. It was seen along a woodland walk in Florencecourt, Co. Fermanagh on 2 July 2004, new to Northern Ireland. The spongy hymenium composed of spore bearing tubes soaked up rain water and was dark and rotten. The 3-8mm diameter lemon yellow spots (stroma with tiny perithecia in) were scattered over the host hymenium and made the fallen bracket appear from a distance like a discarded rotten poxy orange skin [poxy = a folk medical term for spotted]. There is one other specimen in the DBN herbarium, from near Lough Fin, Co. Mayo, collected by Maura Scannell in the 1950s. In addition to rotting down Piptoporus, this saprobe is reported in other European countries on Fomitopsis brackets. - H. Fox, 5 July 2004. Despite the poor fruiting season in the second year of the NI Waxcap Survey, there were a number of 12 Irish records (at least no other Irish records are listed for these species in the BMSFRD) and there are another 10 species new to Northern Ireland. Liz Holden found Camarophyllopsis schulzeri on the slopes of Knocklayd near Ballycastle, Dermoloma pseudocuneifolium near Torr Head, Entoloma ochromicaceum at White Park Bay and Entoloma nigroviolaceum at Knocklayd and White Park Bay. Richard King found Clavaria tenuipes at Ballynahavla Bridge near Slieveanorra and the strange Squamanita paradoxa parasitising Cystoderma sp. near Altnahinch Dam. Shelley Evans and Peter Roberts spectacularly found Hygrocybe phaeococcinea at the White Rocks near Portrush and also (some during diversions into nearby woods) Colacogloea peniophorae and Hyphoderma cryptocallimon at Keady Mountain, Hyphodontia detritica at Dowhill Forest and Sistotremastrum niveocremeum and Tulasnella deliquescens in Ervey Wood ASSI.  Species new to Northern Ireland include Cortinarius huronensis (Shelley Evans at New Buildings, Co.Londonderry), Entoloma excentricum (Liz Holden at Ballynahavla Bridge), Entoloma rhombisporum (Liz Holden near Torr Head), Entoloma pseudoturci (Liz Holden at Knocklayd), Entoloma hirtipes and Entoloma hispidulum (Roy Anderson at Barony Bridge, Tyrone), Entoloma longistriatum (both Liz Holden at Drumtullagh Church in Carrowreagh townland and Roy Anderson at Tirkane near Swatragh), Gamundia striatula (Liz Holden at St. Patrick's Church, Kilrea), Microdiscula phragmitis (Peter Roberts at Donnybrewer Level (Intake) Townland) and Omphalina galericolor var. lilacinicolor (Peter Roberts at the Pot Quarry, Ballyness Townland near Limavady).   Bracket fungi are particularly rare in Northern Ireland due to the lack of continuity of woodland (most large trees were felled for the English ship building industry in the 16th to 18th centuries or ring barked for tannin). So it was particularly pleasing to find the large spongy bracket, Aurantiporus (Tyromyces) fissilis on a Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris) in Castlewellan Forest Park. It was right beside the lake car park and was a fair height up in a old wound where a branch had fallen off. It needed my tripod fully extended standing on tip toes to be able to knock a bit off for identification purposes! An Irish first. Thanks to Nick Legon for confirming it.   From near Ballycastle, a beautiful clump of viscid Pholiota limonella was found by Joe Breen Jnr (aged 9). This is a probable first Irish record. It looks like the common Pholiota squarrosa, but it is very viscid. There are a number of similar species in this area and they can only be distinguished by their spore size. This had spores measuring 6.5-7.5 (8) x 4-4.5 (5) microns so is intermediate between P.jahnii (adiposa) and P.aurivellus (cerifera). (02/10/03)   At the Loughgall foray, the most notable find was Melanophyllum eyeri, which is umistakeable due to its green gills and incredible smell. (20/9/03)    In Glenariff Forest Park, there was masses of the Larch Bolete, Suillus grevellei which is not really notable except that on 3 occasions, it was accompanied by Gomphidius maculatus, which like Suillus bovinus and Gomphidius roseus seem to be fruiting partners. (13/9/03)   The rare BAP fungus, Armillaria ectypa was found again at its site on the Garron Plateau in a base rich flush. Interestingly, it looked to have been partly eaten by sheep. The densely fasiculate fruiting body was knocked over and all the caps were gone except one. Could this be one reason why it is rare? It tastes nice? (12/9/03)   Ronnie Irvine found a flush of Geastrum fimbriatum at Loughry College in Tyrone. It is marked by a sessile finely hairy endoperidium (the globular structure on top containing the spores). Why are we suddenly finding so many earthstars here after years of none at all? Global warming?   August 9-10: A flush is well under way in the west of Northern Ireland. Whilst there are not huge volumes of fungi, there are some very interesting species indeed. On a weekend in Fermanagh, there were huge specimens of Boletus luridus and B.radicans out plus B.rubellus is out on a number of sites, but it was the Amanitas that were the most exciting. Amanita mairei and lividopallescens are new to Ireland. Also new to Northern Ireland are Volvariella hypopithys and Agaricus moelleri. Other notable finds were an enormous Russula pseudointegra, R.laeta with numerous clavate dermatocystidia that are also fuchsinophile, Entoloma vinaceum var. fumosipes, lots of Inonotus dryadeus on a significant number of trees in Crom, Lactarius fuliginosus (common in Crom), Cortinarius rubellus and Pluteus thomsonii with its strongly veined cap. The blackening Russula that we found quite a bit last year was also out. I am veering to calling this Russula anthracina var. insipida as the spores and basidia are just too large for R.atramentosa. It is marked by the black oil drops in the cap hyphae and a mild refreshing tasting gills rather than the very hot gills of R.anthracina itself.  Quite a weekend.    25 May: There is a real flush on wood chips. Agrocybe praecox is common as is Volvariella gloiocephala. One new Irish record is for Conocybe aporos from Castle Park in Bangor which is noted by its delicate movable ring and spores with no germ pore. Volvariella gloiocephala was also found in the foredunes at Murlough in Marram grass which was a first for me in this habitat. There are also a number of species fruiting that normally found much later in the season. Russula cyanoxantha and the small Naucoria escharioides found under Alder were both fruiting in Clandeboye Demesne.   Naucoria escharioides 17 April: On a single piece of gorse up near Dunfanaghy in the north of Co.Donegal that I picked seeing a black asco, Roy Anderson found two new Irish records, Eutypa ulicis and Lophiostoma ulicis. Gorse is an interesting substrate in Ireland as it is so common and we are a long way west to boot. The only records for Eutypa ulicis on the BMS database are from Kintyre, Cornwall, the Scilly Isles and one from Hampshire so is this a western distribution? Similarly, Roland McHugh was finding  myxomycetes like Badhamia taxicola from Gorse near Carrickarede so it worth looking...   Click here for finds between January - August 2001 Click here for finds between September- December 2001 Click here for interesting finds for 2002 Home - Our Group - Forays - BMS Foray 2000 - Mycology in NI - Atlas of NI Fungi - Interesting Finds - Edible Fungi - Database Stats - Fungal Focus - Fungal News - Fascinating Facts  - Ectomycorrhiza - Waxcaps - Herbarium - Photo Gallery - Recording Tips - Recording Form - Links - Joining Us - Dublin Group - Tree ID - Winter Tree ID - Downloads - Search the site - NIFG Discussion Forum