it its name. It had the required cheilocystidia on the edge of its gills - round, with
short,bristly outgrowths, but without a stalk.
Many of these specimens were hardly in their best condition, and some were barely
recognisable. But the Mottled Bolete is very distinctive and quite uncommon in Essex
outside Epping Forest; this was a new record for this site. There were some green
plants to interest us too, such as the wonderful autumn colouring of a Red Oak, some
plants of Rough Hawkbit were still in flower, and the distinctive leaves of both Sheep's
Sorrel and Mouse-ear-hawkweed were easily picked out. We noticed how quickly the
assorted mosses recover with a few days rain, and how beautifully green they were.
Our party was reduced to just four who continued on to Little Leighs churchyard, which
usually has a wonderful crop of Wax-caps. All we found was Armillaria mellea agg and
Xylaria polymorpha or Dead Man's Fingers on wood. At least this last species was a new
record for this churchyard. Again, some of the green plants were interesting, with more of
the Rough Hawkbit, some leaves of Betony, and a number of plants of Large Thyme,
some of which were still in flower. As far as fungi were concerned we recorded 9 species
in two and a half hours. We decided that other churchyards were unlikely to provide any
more species of interest and so the meeting was terminated early.
Fungus Foray in Hatfield Forest on 6,h November 2003
Tony Boniface 40 Pentland Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 4AZ
This was the last of the organised forays this season, and it produced the longest species
list. Our leaders were Shirley and Charles Watson who know the forest well, and pointed
out many interesting trees. The weather was fine, and at last fungi were appearing in
reasonable numbers, although most of them were growing on wood. Ten forayers
attended the meeting in the morning and eight in the afternoon. The group included two
visitors who had found out about it from the Internet. They were most welcome.
The species of the day, as far as I was concerned, was Rigidoporus ulmarius, which
was located on a fallen poplar despite its name. This magnificent bracket had orange
tubes separated from the previous season's growth by a band of white flesh. Another
genus of bracket fungi that was well represented was Ganoderma. One tree bore two
fruiting bodies with varnished upper surfaces; one had a stalk and one did not. We
suggested the stalked one was G lucidum and the unstalked one was G. resinaceum, but
the latter sometimes produces a stalk. The ornamentation on the spores would have
provided the answer as the former species has courser ornamentation. Other trees were
infected with an Artist's Fungus but the only reliable way of separating Ganoderma
adspersum from Ganoderma applanatum is to cut the bracket and look at the flesh; this
defacement is frowned upon in view of the years that it has taken to grow, but if a
section is visible then the latter species has a layer of flesh between successive, annual
20
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 43, January 2004