However on the 30th August 2004 I visited Crowsheath Wood, which is a nature reserve
near Hanningfield Reservoir. I came across one solitary, bright red Russula in litter
under trees. The cuticle peeled about one-fifth to one-quarter of the radius of the cap.
The stem was white without any pink colouration and it did not discolour on scraping.
The cap was six centimetres in diameter. A spore print provided a fairly deep orange
deposit, which was shade E-F in Geoffrey Kibby's key (Kibby 2001) for the identification
of this genus. The taste of the yellow gills was mild. Under the microscope the spores
had a poorly developed reticulum with well-developed warts. I did not look at the
microscopic features of the cuticle. The key still led me to Russula rubroalba which is
described and illustrated in an Italian book. (Galii 1996).
I sent the dried specimen to Geoffrey Kibby and he told me that he agreed with my
identification. The surprise was that he considered it to be a new British record having
found it once before but had now lost the specimens so that apparently they no longer
count and my solitary specimen is the only existing one for Britain.
Such is the excitement of fungus hunting. You can never be sure that a species is not
unusual until you have tried to identify it and then have it confirmed if it turns out to be
interesting.
References
Galii, R. (1996) Le Russule. Edinatura.
Kibby, G. (2001) Synoptic Keys to the British species of the Genus Russula. Manu-
script obtainable from the author.
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Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 46, January 2005
29