Come and be part of a global voice for wild plants and fungi
This autumn, help us find Britain’s most colourful and important fungi – waxcaps.
Fungi are crucial to nearly all life on Earth, but they are not given the recognition and investment they deserve. Will you join our mission to change that?
Our corporate partners benefit from 35 years of experience in nature restoration so they can achieve real impact.
Become a Plantlife member today and together we will rebuild a world rich in plants and fungi
This is where you can read all of our latest publications including scientific studies, reports and research on plants and fungi.
The Ancient grasslands report aims to create a practical definition of the term ‘Ancient Grassland’ to better identify and protect these important grassland habitats. It suggests multiple ways of defining the term and discusses possible advantages and disadvantages in using such definitions.
Definitions are suggested based on age of grassland as well as taking into consideration ecological, environmental and historical factors and landscape features. The report examines how the terminology we use with grasslands could aid their conservation in future.
Authors: A British Ecological Society report. Facilitated by Daniela Russi, Sarah Mckain, Rob Booth and Rebecca Walley. Contributions by Caroline O’Rourke, Professor David Gowing, Professor Gareth Griffith and Dr Kevin Walker. (Full list in annex).
Read the full report here
This report explores the definition of grassland types across the UK and looks in to how these grasslands have changed in status and extent over the past century. Differing definitions can lead to difficulties in determining conservation status of grassland habitats. This report looks to explore the value of establishing consistent definitions of grassland types to aid in conservation efforts.
The report also explores the commonly quoted statistic “around 97% of species-rich grasslands have been lost in the UK over the last 100 years” to look in to any supporting evidence. It investigates pressures on grasslands and reasons behind declines as well as exploring instances where grassland types have increased in area.
Authors: Report by SLR consulting. Report commissioned by Plantlife and WWF-UK.
This report offers a review of existing literature and evidence on the numerous advantages associated with species-rich grasslands. It focuses on the ecosystem services grasslands provide and their ability to contribute towards human wellbeing.
This report examines how restoration and creation of semi-natural grasslands can offer opportunities to enhance ecosystem services while also providing a way of making these landscapes more resilient. It investigates and attempts to demonstrate the connection between grassland condition and future ecosystem services delivery. It points out how the services grasslands provide are often ‘invisible’ and as a result, grasslands can be overlooked and undervalued.
Authors: Report by SLR consulting. Commissioned by Plantlife and WWF-UK.
Wales supports almost 3 quarters of all British bryophyte species, therefore, there is a special responsibility to care for them. This report assesses threats to Welsh bryophytes, including mosses, liverworts and hornworts. It explores how they play a critical role in Welsh ecosystems, especially regarding water regulation and nutrient cycling.
This follows the publication of ‘A Vascular Plant Red Data List for Wales (Dines, 2008)’ to improve knowledge of the threats facing these species and to improve the availability of data. It’s the first report to assign threat categories to Welsh bryophytes and the first to use IUCN categories at a regional scale for this taxon group in Great Britain. The report discusses how IUCN categories were assigned. It also presents and explains the Red Data List for Wales.
Authors: Sam Bosanquet, Countryside Council for Wales, British Bryological Society, Trevor Dines, PLantlife Cymru.
This report assesses threats to Welsh vascular plants.
It’s the first report to assess the Welsh vascular plant flora using international criteria. The results of this report have been used to inform the selection of priorities for conservation in Wales and the report also allows a comparison between species at Great Britain and country level.
The report discusses how IUCN categories were assigned and then analyses differences between the Welsh list and the GB list.
The red data list for Wales is included at the end of this report and updates will be provided electronically as new data becomes available.
Authors: Dr Trevor Dines, Plantlife Wales. With help from the Vice-county recorders and Committee of the Botanical Society of the British Isles in Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales.
A provisional assessment of the best places for fungi in the UK.
Fungi are of fundamental ecological importance and yet their conservation has been halted by a lack of site-based information. This report summarises a project which involved nominating sites to be considered as Important Fungus Areas (IFAs). The project resulted in a list of 520 sites which will be used to support and underpin biodiversity conservation in the UK.
The report discusses some of the difficulties faced when surveying fungi and highlights the neglect that fungi have received with regards to their lack of inclusion in endangered species lists.
It discusses the concept behind Important Fungus Areas and examines data collection methods and the criteria for selecting such areas. The full results are presented in the annex to this report.
Authors: Report researched and written by Shelley Evans, Peter Marren and Martin Harper.
Fungi are often called the forgotten kingdom. Neither plants nor animals, fungi is a kingdom all of it’s own – and it’s a very important one indeed!
We are on a mission to protect our precious fungi and the habitats they call home, and raise their profile by sharing this incredible hidden world. From insightful articles to tops tips as well ID guides and resources, this is where you’ll discover everything you need, to find out more about our fascinating fungi.
Read on below to learn about our current research projects, aiming to unlock more of this wonderful world. And find out how you can get involved helping us learn more about the fungi kingdom, by taking part in surveys as citizen scientists.
Our specialist botanical advisor Sarah Shuttleworth revisits her favourite fungi find – the rare Blue Tooth fungus. Sarah discusses what happened after her discovery and how, this and other fungi finds, can help to form a more detailed picture of an area, it’s history and inform how we can better protect these habitats for the future.
Britain is home to some of the most important waxcap grasslands in the world. However many species are becoming rare and declining; they need identifying and protecting. Become a citizen scientist and help us survey sites looking for waxcaps. You don’t need any fungi ID skills for a waxcap survey – all you need is a smart phone or access to a computer!
Get our top tips for finding grassland fungi, from where to look to what they look like! Use this guide to learn more about our wonderful waxcaps and help to get you on the road to finding, IDing and maybe even helping us to survey these incredible species.
Discover the pressures the colourful waxcaps and their habitats face, the impact of development and what happens when there is a lack of data on the special sites these species call home. Here we also delve into how you can take action to protect them for the future.
Fungi underpin the health of our environment and are key to resolving the climate, ecological and societal challenges we face. Your donation could help increase understanding of fungi and get them the support they need.
Join Senior Ecologist Sarah Shuttleworth for a deadwood date, as she shares what gets fungi swiping right on the wood wide web. Learn more about the connection that plants and fungi share.
Hazel Gloves Fungus is a priority species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and a rare find for any fungi fan. Sarah Shuttleworth discovers this funky fungi for Reverse the Red month, and the secrets it reveals about the area it’s found in.
Take your waxcap knowledge to the next level with our training course, suitable for keen fungi finders and land owners.
Download here
Here we delve into this mind-boggling realm to discover ten of weirdest, wackiest and most wonderful facts from the world of fungi!
There at least five kingdoms in our living world, including; animals, plants, fungi, protists, and the prokaryotes (which includes bacteria). While the animal and plant kingdoms are well known, fungi are often overlooked – but the world of fungi is fascinating! And they’re all around us. A network of fungi runs through the earth in every continent and can even be found in our seas.
Here we explore more of this incredible kingdom to share our passion for all things fungi. From a distant ancestral connection to how some fungi can survive on radioactive sites – read on for 10 wild, wacky and wonderful facts about the world of fungi!
Known as the Humungous Fungus, a single Armillaria organism, found in Oregon, is approximately 931 square hectares or around 70 football pitches!
The fungus is measured including its network of mycelium that run underground, so much of the mass cannot be seen. While it’s unlikely you’ll come across anything of quite that size, there are some pretty big fungi you might find on your doorstep.
For instance, another fungus species, the Giant Puffball Calvatia gigantea (shown in the illustration below) produces large, round fruiting bodies that can be seen above ground. They’re certainly hard to miss, as they can grow up to 80cms in diameter (outside of the UK, they have been known to grow as big as 1.5m). They can grow to such a size that on occasion, people have mistaken them for sheep in a field!
Fungi is a kingdom all of its own, so we don’t want to mistake it for being a plant or animal. That said, while you might expect that these interesting organisms are more closely related to plants – the opposite is true. Fungi share a common ancestor with the animal kingdom, which includes humans, dating back around 1 billion years. [1]
While that may seem an incomprehensible length of time, it might not be in the world of fungi. We don’t have conclusive evidence of how old fungi can be. Research suggests that some of the fungi on our planet today, have been alive for thousands of years.
The ‘Humungous Fungus’ is estimated to be between 1,900 and 8,650 years old! [2] Which means there could be living fungi that were present when the Vikings landed in the UK, when the Romans ruled and even when Stonehenge was erected.
Fungi might be a common feature on your breakfast plate, or in a bowl of pasta – but there are many other foods that contain fungi, which might surprise you.
Did you know that bread, beer, wine and some cheeses all include types of fungi? Yeast-forming fungi are an essential ingredient in the processes to make them and there are many different species, the most common of which is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, used in brewing and making bread.
As far as we know today there are more than 2,000 species of edible fungi in the world. [3] These range from the popular Button and Chestnut Mushrooms Agaricus bisporus to the mycoprotein that makes up the meat substitute Quorn. And they are becoming even more popular with Lion’s Mane Hericium erinaceus being added to some coffees and fungi being used to help ferment cacao beans to make chocolate!
That’s right, fungi aren’t just contained to your kitchen, you can probably find them all around house from your wardrobe to your medicine cabinet and even your beauty bag.
One common example of fungi used in medicine is Penicillin, the first antibiotic, which was derived from Penicillium mould. Other fungi produce compounds that are used to treat diseases like cancer, high cholesterol and even organ transplant rejection.
In the beauty industry mushrooms are becoming a common feature of skincare products as many have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. They have even been trialled as a renewable replacement for dyes in cosmetics.
Fungal enzymes are also used in the processing and production of a variety of products including paper, leather, cotton and biofuels – and generally they replace harsher chemicals in these processes.
Fungi are essential for the nutrient cycles of the planet by acting as natural decomposers for organic matter. This means that as plants die, fungi help to break them down. In fact fungi are the only group of organisms that can break down plant cell walls.
But research suggests that fungi could also break down other substances, in a process which could be used to clean our planet. Mycoremediation, is a process that uses fungi to break down substances that cause pollution.
This process can be seen in action in places like the Amazon rainforest where local landowners are using these techniques to rid the ground of crude oil contamination.
Currently researchers are also using fungi to create filters to clean water. They’ve even found a species called Aspergillus tubingensis, which can break down plastics! [4]
And five years after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the fungi Cryptococcus neoformans, was found feeding on radiation. [5] Scientists are now exploring the possibilities of this incredible fungus, looking at whether its abilities could help protect astronauts from radiation in space.
Bioluminescence is a phenomenon where a living organism is able to produce and emit light. You might have seen this trait in fireflies in the sky or algae in the water, but more than 70 types of fungi can also glow in the dark. [6]
Some of these fascinating fungi that can be found around the world include Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare (pictured on the right, in the daytime), Jack-O’Lantern Mushroom Omphalotus olearius, and Little Ping-Pong Bats Panellus pusillus.
You can even find some of these luminescent fungi in the UK – though they are rarer and weaker here than in other parts of the world.
While plants have long been heralded for their ability to store carbon, they are not the only organisms capable of doing so.
Fungi help break down organic material, using the carbon recycled by plants, and store this carbon as mycelium underground. This process helps lock atmospheric carbon in the soil, as well as releasing other nutrients into the soil which can help plants grow.
Scientists estimate that fungi could be storing up to 13.12 billion metric tons of carbon annually! [7]
We might still be finding new and exciting ways to benefit from fungi today, but our ancestors paved the way.
Most notably, a number of harvested fungi were found in the bag of Otzi ‘The Iceman’. Otzi’s mummified remains were discovered on the Italian-Austrian border in 1991. He had different species of fungi with him, though the intended uses of these cannot be known. Otzi is estimated to have been alive between 3350 and 3105 BC, meaning humans have been connected to fungi for at least 5,000 years!
While we tend to think of fungi in that stereotypical umbrella form, they can come in a variety of different sizes and shapes – including some pretty impressive lookalikes!
Take the Jelly Ear Fungus Auricularia auricula – a common fungus that you can often find on decaying or dead Elder. This odd fungus gets its name because it looks and feels, almost completely like a human ear!
Then there’s Dead Man’s Fingers Xylaria polymorpha! Just about as creepy visually as it sounds. The fruiting bodies are long and club shaped, and could easily be mistaken for a hand poking up out of the soil.
Finally, a much less scary lookalike, is the Bird’s Nest Fungus Crucibulum laeve – named because it’s fruiting body almost perfectly resembles a tiny bird’s nest filled with eggs! When it rains, drops splash into the nest shape and knock out one of the little discs, which contain the spores, helping them to spread.
OK, it’s all relative – you’re not going to find a mushroom that brings out the blue skies or creates a thunderstorm over your town. But there is research to suggest that some species, including Shitake Lentinula edodes and Oyster Mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus could create their own mini weather systems. [8]
The science behind this phenomenon is evaporative cooling. Mushrooms release water, which evaporates in the warm air, turning into water vapour. The water vapour then cools the air, which sinks and the warm air in turn rises. As the air moves it creates a small breeze, probably not one that we would notice – but it’s enough for the fungi.
Even a whisper of a breeze can help to disperse the tiny spores and spread them over a larger distance. This trick is especially helpful on hot days where there isn’t any wind to assist.
Chris Jones, the Warden of Kenfig National Nature Reserve, recently found the very rare fungus, during a routine survey.
Fungi are one of our most fascinating creations, and best of all, they are right under our noses – perfect for children to spot.
Britain’s waxcap grasslands are considered to be the best in Europe. Discover the pressures these colourful fungi and their habitats face…
Whether you wish to create a meadow from scratch or introduce more wildflowers and grasses into your meadow or grassy area, or within your garden lawn, our species lists are here to guide you.
When selecting seeds, the first things to think about are:
You can do this by understanding what the species that are already there are telling you about your soil, fertility and its existing species, and/or by carrying out a soil test. If you are wishing to introduce more species to an existing grassland, then knowing what you already have is important so that you can tailor what you introduce to be an appropriate match.
It is best to survey your grassy area over the summer and use our handy ‘plant forensics’ guide to help you understand which species are likely to do well, before purchasing any seed.
We recommend using local seed mixes which you can check against the most appropriate species list below to be sure of a good match. Alternatively, if you know a local meadow with appropriate species, and you can organise either green hay or brush-harvesting, or even hand collecting ripe seed of specific species, this would be even better.
To help you on your meadow-making journey, we have made these lists as a starting point for creating or restoring grassland in a typical species-poor or species-moderate grassland scenario.
Please note that these are not definitive lists, and different sites and situations may require a more bespoke approach. If your grassland is outside of the ‘norm’ such as within a national park or AONB – then contact us for a more bespoke guidance on seed-mixes which will reflect the site’s regional distinctiveness.
For example, a pH neutral hay meadow in the south west of England won’t have the same community as a neutral hay meadow in the Lake District . We have also left out species which are very geographically specific. So, if you have an unusual site with potential to support a rare habitat, then contact us for more bespoke list.
These lists divide the species into Groups 1, 2 and 3, in order of both their difficulty establishing from seed-introduction, and their tolerance to high soil-nutrient levels.
No quantities have been outlined in the lists below because seed providers should be able to provide this detail, or already have this outlined in their meadow-mixes. In general, however, grassland communities will be between 50-80% grass, and those with high nutrient levels will usually settle into a higher percentage content of the grass species.
Where mildly alkaline:
Upland habitats – all those grasslands which are above approximately 250m (sea level). If close to 250m and somewhat sheltered, the above lowland species may also thrive.
Family activities
Not many people have heard of lichens, but they are a fascinating and pretty strange part of our natural world. They come in all shapes and sizes, but what exactly are these colourful blobs?
Learn more about what lichens are, what makes them special, and where they grow in these activities perfect for children aged 7-11. We’ll take you on a real lichen adventure!
Even though we can find lichens in most places we go, lots of us have never really noticed them and don’t know what they are.
Have a go at our What’s a lichen? activity to learn everything you need to know about them.
Have a go at our activity
Now you know what a lichen is, can you tell lichens apart from other living things?
Take a look at the activity sheet and see if you can Spot the lichen.
Download and print Spot the lichen sheet
Scroll down for even more lichen activities!
Lichens can grow almost anywhere… they could even be right on your doorstep!
Find out more about where lichens grow through our online activity – you might be surprised at where you can find them!
Even in busy places, full of people and cars, you’ll be able to spot lichens. They could be anywhere, from playparks and pavements, to graveyards and post boxes.
Now you know some of the places you might find lichens growing its time to see if you can find some. Go on your own Lichen Hunt to see where you can find them in your local area.
Download and print the Lichen Hunt sheet
Pastinaca sativa
DistributionWidespread throughout the UK
Habitat Grassland and scrub
Best time to seeJune to August
A tall, strong smelling, hairy plant with a ridged stem. Oval toothed leaves with yellow umbrella shaped flowers.
This is where you can read all of our latest publications including scientific studies, reports and research.
We are on a mission to protect fungi, the habitats they call home and raise their profile across the world.
Meadows are often a defining feature of summer, but when managed properly they can also be a vital habitat for wildlife and nature recovery.
We will keep you updated by email about our work, news, campaigning, appeals and ways to get involved. We will never share your details and you can opt out at any time. Read our Privacy Notice.
