Part of the joy of EFC field meetings is the reunion of friends that only meet for a short
season each year. Walking in Grays Gorge with Barbara Chapman was also very
instructive, as she is a highly experienced gardener and has a fascinating garden at her
home. We were chatting about growing shrubs and trees from their berries, and she
mentioned soaking the berries for some time to allow the soft fruit part to rot away
before planting the seeds. Now I realised that this is equivalent to a berry going through
the gut of a mammal or bird, and the bare seeds coming out at the other end. 1 knew this
helped germination, indeed, is often essential for germination. It happens all over the
world, with some of the most famous examples being the berries or fruits that must pass
through an African Elephant's gut before the seeds will germinate in the dung. But I
never knew how this worked. Barbara said it was because many soft fruits or berries
(and 'dry' fruits of grasses and some other plants as well) contain substances that are
germination inhibitors, so must be removed to allow germination of the seeds within. I
try to follow the advice in the adage 'Learn something new every day', and I usually
succeed on a field meeting. Thank you, Barbara.
Then, on the night of 18/19 October we had our first frost of tire season. This was not
unexpected as the anticyclonic weather had brought sunshine and clear skies, and the
nights had been cold for a week. Two more nights with frost followed. In these days of
global heating it is unusual to have frost in October. The days have reached 14°C, but
feeling higher in the sunshine, giving a sharp difference between day and night.
At the end of the month I was raking up mountains of dead leaves dropped from our
assorted fruit trees. I came across some small fruit-bodies of a Honey Fungus Armillaria
tabescens in shaded grass between several trees. Most of the trees in that area arc Holly,
Hazel, and some suckers of Cherry Plum (being the rootstock from our grafted almond
tree which had to be cut down since it was dead after years of the fungal disease Peach
tree leaf curl), but all these are young and vigorous. The Bramley Apple tree, however,
is also nearby, and is nearly SO years old, being planted by the first people in the new
house almost 80 years ago. This poor tree has just about every disease known to apple
trees, and is clearly nearing the end of its natural life. So almost certainly this is the one
that Honey Fungus has got into. This year the tree had very few apples, when everyone
else with apple trees had good crops. But our grandchildren love it as a climbing tree,
and we like it for the shade it gives in hot summers, so we shall all be sad when it has to
come down. It seems silly to be so attached to a sick tree!
In mid November the weather suddenly changed to very cold from being quite mild
since the October frosts. Late October and early November had been fairly good for
fungi generally, but as time progressed the diy soil and no rain severely limited the types
available. Most of the ones that look like mushrooms, ie with cap and stalk, were gone,
mostly dried up, but in wetter, low lying areas there were lots of lignicolous fungi to
find, even if ones on soil were few and far between. I found, and identified, anumber of
species I had not found before, but the huge majority are not at all photogenic. Maybe
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 55, January 2008
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