A Walk in the Forest, Part II

On 30 October Ingrid and I went for a wander in the Forêt de Preuilly. We only covered a couple of kilometres but we saw lots of things and got some nice photos. It should have been peak mushroom season, but even after a bit of rain, there were relatively few species, and nothing in abundance. 

 

Hedgehog Mushroom Hydnum repandrum (Fr. Pied de mouton), showing the 'spines' underneath the cap. This one, and its nearby friends, came home with me and I ate them.

Hedgehog Mushrooms.

Beech Woodwart Hypoxylon fragiforme (Fr. Hypoxylon en forme de fraise), which, as the name suggests, is found on Beech, almost exclusively.

Turkey-tail Trametes versicolor (Fr. polypore versicolore), an often colourful, and very variable bracket fungus that is everywhere in the forest.

Brittlegill Russula sp (Fr. Russule), one of the wine coloured (Fr. vineuse) species that are very difficult to identify. As a group they are abundant in the forest, and related to the usually equally abundant orange Milkcaps Lactarius spp.

Felted Twiglet mushrooms Tubaria conspersa (Fr. Tubaire voilée) is an abundant little ochre coloured mushroom which grows on brash and other forest floor debris. The gills are beige and the surface of the cap and stem covered in fine white scales. It's a mushroom you can see at any time of year.

Dog Stinkhorn Mutinus caninus (Fr. Phallus de chien) are rather thin compared to other stinkhorns, and their caps are not separate, but part of the stipe (stem). They 'hatch' out of a white 'egg' and when young the orange tip is covered with an olive green sticky gleba, smelling of tobacco and over ripe fruit.

Hairy Leg Bell mushrooms Galerina vittiformis (Fr. Galère rougeâtre) or one of its close relatives, another little ochre coloured mushroom, commonly found poking up from the forest floor moss. It is one of a number of species which bioaccumulates heavy metals from contaminated ground.

Devilsbit Scabious Succisa pratensis (Fr. Succise des près) found throughout France, in damp woods and meadows.

Soapy Knight mushroom Tricholoma saponaceum (Fr. Tricholome à odeur de savon), which smells of soap when young, then later of iodine.

Magpie Ink Cap Coprinopsis picacea (Fr. Coprin pie) is found in open deciduous wooded habitat, often appearing in the grass of forest rides. It is an easy and unmistakeable mushroom to identify.