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Sarcoscypha austriaca
Scarlet Elfcup can be found in damp, shady areas, growing on dead hardwood on the woodland floor. They are often surrounded by moss and can be found throughout Britain and Ireland.
The name “elfcup” comes from folklore, where woodland elves were said to drink or bathe in water collecting in the cups of the fungus.
The Scarlet Elfcup is often confused with the Ruby Elfcup Sarcoscypha coccinea. It requires a microscope to tell the difference between these two species!
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.
Amanita muscaria
Fly Agaric can be found in woodlands and along woodland edges. They often reoccur in the same place over multiple years and are widespread throughout Britain and Ireland.
The name Fly Agaric refers to the fungus having been used as an insecticide.
If the white spots wash off the Fly agaric cap, it can be mistaken for red Russula species such as the Beechwood sickener Russula nobilis. There are also other Amanita species which look similar to the Fly Agaric but lack the distinctive red cap (e.g. The Blusher, Amanita rubescens)
Laetiporus sulphureus
This fungus is a common find in woodlands across the UK. They are found mainly on deciduous trees, for example oak, sweet chestnut and beech. Often they are quite high up on the tree trunk, so its worth casting your eyes upwards!
The flesh of this bracket fungus has a texture similar to cooked chicken, hence the common name!
The Giant polypore (Meripilus gigantus) can form similar bracket structures. However, the underside of Giant polypore turns black when damaged, which cannot be seen in Chicken of the Woods.
Chicken of the Woods, photo taken by John Bury
This autumn, help Plantlife find Britain’s most colourful and important fungi – waxcaps.
Daldinia concentrica
Find this fungus growing on dead or dying wood, particularly Ash and Beech.
There are many other fungi which produce tough black crusts on deadwood, however most of these produce much smaller fruit bodies than King Alfred’s Cakes.
The common name of this fungus refers to its appearance resembling burnt cakes! As the story goes, a woman giving shelter to Alfred asked him to watch her cakes cooking. He let the cakes burn, and tried to hide the evidence by scattering them in the woodland.
This fungus also makes a great firelighter! The fruit bodies can smoulder for a long time when lit, so may also have been used to transport a flame when on the move.
Hypholoma fasciculare
This fungus grows in dense clusters on dead or dying wood, and can be found on deciduous or conifer trees.
The Brick Tuft (Hypholoma lateritium) is very similar, but typically has a darker reddish cap, and its gills are more yellow rather than the green-ish tinge of Sulphur tuft gills.
Sulphur tufts are bioluminescent, that is they glow in the dark! They don’t glow strongly, so the effect is best seen using a long camera exposure, or by shining the fruit bodies with a UV light.
Sulphur tuft pictured at our Ryewater Farm Nature Reserve
Mentha aquatica
Water Mint can grow up to 90cm tall. It has pretty, pale purple flower heads and hairy leaves and stems. The leaves can be between 2cm and 6cm and grow in whorls around the stem.
Peppermint shares a resemblance, but has darker flowers, leaves and often has a purple stem.
This pretty, aromatic plant is common all over the UK. You can find it growing in wet meadows, fens and marshes, streams, ponds, riversides and damp woodlands.
It is said that Water Mints pleasant scent was used during the medieval era, to make their dining halls smell fresh.
Reportedly the plants were laid on the floor so that guests would step on them upon entering, and release the sweet smell of mint.
Succisa pratensis
Devil’s-bit Scabious is part of the Globulariaceae family which includes similar looking relatives such as Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria and Field Scabious Knautia arvensis.
They all have similar looking rounded composite flower heads, made up of many tiny flowers. They are usually blue in colour, though can sometimes be purple. You can tell Devil’s-bit from it’s relatives as it has long oval leaves.
Devil’s-bit Scabious is a perennial plant that grows up to 100cm.
This plant prefers damp environments and can be found in marshes, wet heathlands, fens and woodlands.
It is a common plant that is found all over the UK.
Anthoxanthum oderatum
Thin, wiry grass with short leaves and a spike of flowers at the top of the stem. Where the leaf meets the stem, there is a fringe of hairs which look like eyelashes.
On old meadows and grasslands that are often rich in wild flowers. Here, it’s one of the first meadow grasses to come into flower in the spring.
Red Fescue – another grass with a narrow stem and pointy flower spikes, but which is bigger and lacks the scent.
It gives out a scent that is THE distinctive smell of a hay meadow – somewhere between vanilla and almond. Some people like to chew the grass to get the taste of the scent.
Poa trivialis
At first glance, this looks like a typical grass. Quite tall, with its flat flowers hanging from the ends of short stalks, arranged along the stem like a Christmas tree. But rub your fingers along the fresh stem and you’ll notice it is slightly rough. Pull the leaf away from the stem a little bit and you’ll see a membrane-like triangle – known as a ligule, this is distinctly long and pointy on Rough Meadow Grass.
Rough Meadow Grass not only grows in all kinds of grassland, but also in marshes, ditches, wastelands and woodland glades. It’s also found on lawns but struggles to survive if mown regularly.
Don’t mistake it with
Smooth Meadow Grass looks very similar but lacks the roughness of the stem, and its ligule, that membrane at the junction of the stem and leaf, is not pointy in shape.
Just one plant of Rough Meadow Grass can produce up to 29,000 seeds, providing food for worms and ground beetles.
Lolium perenne
Its glossy dark green leaves shimmer as they waft in a breeze. Closer up, their spikey flowers cling close to the stem, barely overlapping. The stem turns a lovely burgundy red colour near the base of the stem.
For those with a keen eye, the leaves clasp around the stem with what look like a pair of hooked claws, known as an auricle.
Widespread across the UK, it’s particularly abundant in parklands, sports fields and freshly laid lawns. It is also the most commercially sown grass on farmland, cut a few times a year to provide winter food for cattle and sheep.
Couch Grass has spikey flowers that also cling close to the stem, but unlike Rye Grass, these overlap. Its leaves are grey-green and rather rough rather than the smooth feeling, dark and glossy leaves of Rye Grass.
As Rye Grass grows fast and is eagerly eaten by livestock, it was the first grass in Britain to be sown commercially on farmland, probably more than 400 years ago. Modern varieties are bred to be able to tolerate trampling, mowing and heavy grazing.
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