7 of 80 The Month in Wyre Forest - October Linda Iles Bewdley Bridge Community Magazine - October 2025 /
This could be a very good year for mushrooms and toadstools if we have su ffi cient rain! A period of heavy rain after dry weather usually stimulates the growth of the variously-shaped and coloured fruiting bodies which we see on the forest floor and out in the meadows. The greater part of the organism consists of a network of fungal threads called hyphae growing through the soil, dead wood and leaves. The network is called mycelium and a specialist in the study of fungi is a mycologist. Mycologists have recently made some astounding discoveries about fungi and their importance to the ecology of many other species. The most startling is that by far the largest living organism in the world is an example of the fungus Armillaria solidipes (a species of honey fungus) which extends for about 4 square miles in the Malheur National Forest of Oregon. DNA checks have proved that this is all one organism and it is estimated to be from 2000 to 8000 years old. Unfortunately it is a killer of coniferous trees, travelling through the soil by means of strong black ‘bootstraps’ by which it infects other trees’ own root systems. I have found these bootstraps in parts of my garden and lost a very attractive crab apple tree to honey fungus. I have only myself to blame for introducing it via picturesque logs and stumps. Fortunately the relationships between trees and fungi are usually more benign and beneficial. Fungi cannot photosynthesise, absorbing nutrients and water directly from their surroundings and most notably from dead matter. However, many have evolved to form a close
association with trees where they benefit from the sugars produced by the tree and the trade-o ff for the tree is a more e ff ective system for gathering minerals from the soil and filtering out heavy metals. This co-operation of the fungal mycelium with tree roots results in an extensive ‘root’ system which can link one tree with another over large areas. Particular fungi may be fairly specific in their choice of host tree. The Oak Milkcap, one of about 50 species of milkcap found in the Wyre Forest, is shown in the photo: the ‘milk’ which gives it its name oozing from the damaged gills. It is, I believe, exclusively associated with oak trees, whereas, for instance, the Fiery Milkcap grows under Hazel, Fly Agaric under birch and Slippery Jack under Scots Pine. Local gourmets may be rather sad to learn that edible tru ffl es cannot grow in the Wyre Forest’s acidic soils, so plans to train up the dog or pig as a tru ffl e-hunter would get us nowhere. I won’t get into the tricky subject of whether or not di ff erent fungi are edible: after an allergic reaction a few years ago after eating a Common Pu ff ball I prefer to steer clear of them all.
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