sweet corn, in Havering, then a week or so after that we saw it again in a Thames Chase
area near here where it was growing on a grassy path side. It was Stubble Pinkgill
Volvariella gloiocephala, aka V. speciosa (see plate 2). This is said in the books to be
common, but it was one I had never seen before, then suddenly it was all over the place.
It clearly liked the weather conditions this autumn.
In our garden is an elderly conference Pear tree. Picking the pears in autumn involves
climbing up into the tree a bit, and we noticed lots of leaves with strange growths on,
which we had never seen before (see 3 photographs, plate 1). We were unable to decide
whether it was of animal origin (eg a gall insect) or fungal origin (eg a rust or smut) or a
virus causing deformity. So I picked several and showed them to everyone I could think of
who might recognise it. After a while Ken Adams said it was a rast, and he suggested a
name. A few days later Martin Heywood came to the same conclusion. Now both these
gentlemen are well respected in their professions, and so they are almost certainly correct.
It is called Pear Rust, or sometimes Juniper-Pear Rust Gymnosporangium sabinae, as it
needs two hosts, one year a certain kind of Juniper and the next year a Pear tree. Looking
it up on the RHS website, I found pictures looking just like mine, and it gave me more
information. It has recently become much more common, but nobody knows why. The
Juniper has to be within about 300m, but a garden species could be anywhere and we
would not know. The Pear tree is already old and may not survive this onslaught. 1 am not
keen to spray it with a fungicide, as I do value the rest of the things in our garden, including
the fungi. In the next edition of Field Mycology, 4 similar rast species were featured,
including our one. Suddenly, it is popping up all over the place.
Other fungi in our garden surprised us recently too. For some years we have been grateful
for small crops of Horse Mushroom that have added a little something to many suppers.
I know the favourite places in the garden where they grow, but Illis year a new lot appeared
further down under the Pear tree (yes, the same Pear tree!). Naturally, I picked these
too, along with the others. I washed them all gently, and put them in the pan along with
bacon rashers and some onions. Suddenly I noticed that some of the mushrooms had
gone a brilliant yellow, so I fished some out and they smelled funny too. The new ones
I had picked, looking just like Horse Mushrooms, were Yellow Stainers! We narrowly
escaped being very sick, even possibly lying in a coma for three days! Needless to say,
I threw away the whole pan full, so we lost the bacon and onions too. And this happened
in my garden and kitchen, when I take great care to warn others how to avoid the same
mistake! PS If you did not already know, you can tell by braising the very base of the
stipe, the bit in the soil, and if it quickly (few seconds) goes bright chrome yellow it is
the Yellow Stainer. It also has an unpleasant non-mushroomy smell, which is more
pronounced when cooked. If slight yellowish colours appear relatively slowly (minutes)
on bruising the cap or stipe, this is OK, as Horse Mushrooms do that. Also Horse
Mushrooms smell and taste mushroomy, with a hint of aniseed.
Also in our garden this year, our tomatoes have suffered from Blight, another fungus.
6
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007