A fair selection....

[tommer9]

Weel I emailed Kew with the pics, and it seems you are correct Tony!! (nto that i didnt doubt you anyway mate)

They sent this email:

Hi Tom

 

Your message was passed on to me about the polypore (poss B. fumosa) on sycamore. I think it most likely that you have B. fumosa, amongst others, which is uncommon (but likes Acer and Ulmus in my experience and is often found fruiting late/early in the year). Next time you see it have a sniff. (or, if it is very cold out, bring it in a warm room in a container and smell it). One field character distinguishing B. fumosa from B. adusta (beware the latter can sometimes have a whitish pore surface if the brackets are very vigorous and very young) is that fumosa has a sweet anise-like smell when fresh which is lacking in adusta. For confirmation, a spore print should be collected and spores measured, there is a slight difference between the two. If you can go back later on when bracket is more mature and the pores are still whitish buff (not grey at all) I think you definitely have fumosa.

 

I can only find one previous record (on the FRD national database for B. fumosa) in Cornwall dating back to 1800s (J. Ralfs, Penzance) so if you do go back and collect some, dry it and send it to me, we would welcome it in the national fungal collection here at Kew (but probably not worth a special trip unless you happen to be passing or it is nearby).

 

Hope this helps

Dr A. Martyn Ainsworth

 

Senior Researcher in Fungal Conservation - RBG Kew

 

Senior Specialist, Fungi - Natural England

 

 

 

Made my day!!

So any tips on how best to go about the picking and drying of a fungi?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Weel I emailed Kew with the pics, and it seems you are correct Tony!! (nto that i didnt doubt you anyway mate)

They sent this email:

Hi Tom

 

Your message was passed on to me about the polypore (poss B. fumosa) on sycamore. I think it most likely that you have B. fumosa, amongst others, which is uncommon (but likes Acer and Ulmus in my experience and is often found fruiting late/early in the year). Next time you see it have a sniff. (or, if it is very cold out, bring it in a warm room in a container and smell it). One field character distinguishing B. fumosa from B. adusta (beware the latter can sometimes have a whitish pore surface if the brackets are very vigorous and very young) is that fumosa has a sweet anise-like smell when fresh which is lacking in adusta. For confirmation, a spore print should be collected and spores measured, there is a slight difference between the two. If you can go back later on when bracket is more mature and the pores are still whitish buff (not grey at all) I think you definitely have fumosa.

 

I can only find one previous record (on the FRD national database for B. fumosa) in Cornwall dating back to 1800s (J. Ralfs, Penzance) so if you do go back and collect some, dry it and send it to me, we would welcome it in the national fungal collection here at Kew (but probably not worth a special trip unless you happen to be passing or it is nearby).

 

Hope this helps

Dr A. Martyn Ainsworth

 

Senior Researcher in Fungal Conservation - RBG Kew

 

Senior Specialist, Fungi - Natural England

 

 

 

Made my day!!

So any tips on how best to go about the picking and drying of a fungi?

 

 

Tommer, you have also made my day, my confidence took a nose dive today but this lifts me a bit to say the least:thumbup1:

 

go get it and leave it in a brown paper bag if you can in a warm but not hot place it will go hard and tough then its ready to send.

 

good lad, fun aint it.

[tommer9]

Nice one Tony. I shall get back there tomorrow if poss.

The customer was very interested too, and said he would get some better pics with his decent camera.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Nice one Tony. I shall get back there tomorrow if poss.

The customer was very interested too, and said he would get some better pics with his decent camera.

 

its amazing how fascinated customers are when you tell them about things like this, it is a very rewarding aspect of having professional knowledge, they wont forget it.