Collybia bustyracea and its usual sidekicks in this area, Collybia dryophila and Club
Foot Clitocybe clavipes. Species found for the first time in the Forest (at least by me)
included Mycena pseudopicta - which has a distinctive swollen apex to the stipe - and
Marasmius wyneae. None of the field guide illustrations I have seen do justice to the
beauty of the latter - the cap being a delicate shade of lilac-grey, complimented by lilac-
tinted gills and a stipe that is bright red-brown at the base, fading to yellow further up,
then white near the apex. It is most frequently found in beech woods but the small
cluster discovered in Birch Spring on November 9"' were growing beneath hornbeam
and birch. The season was rounded off with two more Clitocybe - dicolor and
hydrogramma. My panel of fungi sniffers - who have to stand in for my insensitive nose
- were unanimous that the latter stank of ammonia. The books state that it smells of old
chicken sheds - which I suppose amounts to the same thing. One wonders, though, just
how many mycologists under the age of fifty have ever been inside a chicken shed -
once so common in gardens throughout the land. Perhaps the publishers of field guides
should update their descriptions!
Additional meetings to the programme issued with the January Newsletter
2004
SUN May 9 BRITISH PLANT GALL SOCIETY MEETING. Hainault Forest
Country Park. Meet in the first car park TQ 476926 at 11.00am. Bring
packed lunch. Leader: Brian Ecott 020 8550 4078.
SUN July 11 SUFFOLK NATURALIST SOCIETY MEETING. "Galls and Antlions"
Workshop and field meeting. Meet 11.00am at the Dunwich Reading
Room. TM478706. Leader: Mike Kirby, ej_m_kirby@btinternet.com
WED Oct 13 FUNGUS FORAY. Foray at Abbots Hall Farm, Great Wigborough. Meet
at Abbots Hall Farm at 10am TL963146. Leader Tony Boniface 01245
266316.
SUN Nov 21 FUNGUS FORAY. Foray at Norsey Wood, Billericay. Meet 10.00am by
Information Centre TQ691956. Return to centre 12.00-12.30 for
identification and tea. Leader Barbara Chapman 01268 765597.
WED Nov 24 SPECTACULAR PLANTS OP THE WORLD. 'Tales plants tell' A look
at some interesting plants from around the world. A talk by Tony
Boniface. Hall of the Blessed Sacrament, Melbourne Avenue,
Chelmsford TL 689083 8.00pm.
2005
SAT Jan 22 FUNGUS GROUP ANNUAL MEETING. Meet 3.00pm at the home of
Tony and Judith Boniface, 40 Pentland Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex CM1
4AZ. TL704089. Review of the year, planning new programme followed
by refreshments. 01245 266316.
20 Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 44, May 2004