Journal
Wood Wise – fabulous fungi
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Fungi and lichens
Magical and mistrusted. Toadstools and mushrooms are associated with ancient taboos, dung, death and decomposition. But trees rely on fungi and we're just starting to understand how close this relationship is: great networks that link and support trees and woodland life. They come in dazzling shapes, colours and sizes; even working with other species to produce different organisms.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Barnacle lichen
Looking like little barnacles growing on tree trunks, get to know barnacle lichen which you'll find on the bark of living trees in ancient wood.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Beard lichens
Dripping off the trees in clean-air woodlands, these beautiful bushy beard lichens adorn branches and trunks and are some of our most conspicuous and beautiful lichens. Find out more about them.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Bearded tooth fungus
Tufty and beard-like, this rare and legally protected fungus has a reputation for easing dementia. It grows on beech, oak and birch trees and is famed around the world as a miracle memory medicine.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Beechwood sickener
Toxic, brittle, red-capped. Beechwood sickener is only found in beech woodland and help beech trees take up nutrients from the soil.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Beefsteak fungus
Sticky and gruesome, beefsteak is a woodland fungus with the disconcerting appearance of a raw cut of meat. It even oozes a blood-like substance when cut!
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Trees woods and wildlife
Brown roll-rim
A wolf in sheep’s clothing, the brown roll-rim might look innocent enough, but it’s a deadly fungus of birch woodland.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Candlesnuff fungus
Pallid, petite, a tumour-fighter. Candlesnuff fungi may be small but they are a medical force to be reckoned with. They contain both anti-viral properties and compounds that are active against some human carcinomas.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Chanterelle
Prized ingredient. Forager’s favourite. Succulent and delicate in flavour, chanterelle is used by chefs the world over. Yellow or orange in colour, smelling of apricots, chanterelles are a woodland favourite.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Charcoal burner
Crumbly, tasty and ruddy, the charcoal burner is a favourite with chefs. Find it in oak and beech woodland throughout the UK.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Chicken of the woods
Bright, bold and soft to the touch. With its distinctive look, chicken of the woods is easy to spot on the trunks of trees like oak and cherry.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Collared earthstar
The star of the show in broadleaf woodland. This charming fungus would look at home at the bottom of the sea. It may be small but its transformation from bulb-shape to star, to saucer, to support its delicate spore sac is truly remarkable.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Common bird’s nest fungus
Clinging to twigs and branches like tiny birds’ nests, each common bird’s nest fungus looks like a clutch of white eggs. Using the power of raindrops to fling spore sacks into the air, it wraps a short cord around any twig it connects with and waits for the right conditions to spore.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Common Earthball
Warty, poisonous, explosive. Common earthball might look like a potato, but it is not for eating. Spot it in woodland; you might even see it release its spores as its top ruptures like a gaping mouth to reveal the blackish, powdery spores within.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Common inkcap
Sticky and useful, inkcaps were used as a source of ink for important documents to guard against forgeries.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Dead man’s fingers
Swollen, blackened ‘fingers’ reaching for the sky. Aptly named, dead man’s fingers spookily look as if someone buried beneath the woodland floor is trying to make a last-ditch attempt to escape.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Deathcap
Silent assassin and killer of kings. The deathcap has been used as a murder weapon for millennia. It grows in mixed woodland; make sure to stay away when foraging!
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Trees woods and wildlife
Fly agaric
Famous, enchanting and highly toxic. Fly agaric is the home of fairies and magical creatures and a lover of birch woodland, where it helps trees by transferring nutrients into their roots, but if eaten can cause hallucinations and psychotic reactions.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Jelly ear
Velvety and a little disconcerting, the jelly ear looks just like an ear growing off decaying branches. Look for them in the damp and shady conditions they love, on trees like elder and beech.
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Trees woods and wildlife
King Alfred’s cakes
Tiny fire-lighters with an embarrassing story, King Alfred’s cakes are named after the king’s poor baking skills. Spot them growing in broadleaf woodland where they can last for years.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Lungwort lichens
Once common and widespread, they're now pushed to the westernmost extremities of the UK due to air pollution. These lichens of old and ancient woodlands are among the most impressive and may have life-saving properties.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Morel
Highly prized and easily recognised, the morel is a favourite edible mushroom. It has a strong, nutty flavour and a pleasant, earthy smell and grows in a variety of habitats, including well-drained woodland. But beware, it is poisonous when raw.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Oak bracket
Though it oozes a honey-like liquid, the oak bracket has a few less tantalising names. It lives off the heartwood of living trees as well as on deadwood. Also known as weeping conk and warted oak polypore, they belong to a group called butt rot fungi.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Oakbug milkcap
Stinky and unimpressive. Oakbug milkcap is a dull-looking fungus that is easily missed in woodland among its more spectacular cousins. It is edible, though is not to everyone’s taste, and is said to have an oily smell, similar to bed bugs. Yum.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Oyster mushroom
Carnivorous and oyster-like in appearance, these large, fleshy mushrooms are common throughout the UK's woodlands. They have a signature fan-shaped cap and are edible with a slight odour similar to aniseed.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Penny bun
Weighty, fat and delicious with a cap like a crusty, well-baked bun. Penny buns, or ceps, are prized for their taste and benefits to woodland, tree and human health.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Porcelain fungus
A glistening white, translucent beauty which fights off its rivals with its own fungicide. It is associated with beech trees and is edible – but only once the off-putting mucus is washed off.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Scarlet elf cup
Mystical and cheery, the scarlet elf cup grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp spots and beneath leaf litter on the woodland floor. Their bright pops of colour brighten up even the darkest winter day.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Shaggy parasol
Elegant and shabby-chic. Good to eat – unless you’re one of the one in 25 people whose stomach can’t tolerate it.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Stinkhorn
Pungent and a little indecent, some Victorians were so embarrassed by these fungi that they would attack them with cudgels lest any impressionable young ladies might see them.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Velvet shank
A burst of sunshine in wintry woods, the bright orange of velvet shank fungus is a treat for the eyes on a dark day. Not only are they a cheery sight but they are also edible.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Wood blewit
Pastel-toned and edible with a magical twist. Wood blewit has a blue to violet-tinged cap and gills when young, with pale pink spores. It sometimes grows in circles called ‘fairy rings’, which can appear overnight and were once thought to indicate that magic was at work.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Yellow brain
A frilly sign of a witch’s curse, yellow brain is a parasitic jelly fungus that looks a little like a brain and feeds on fungi that feed on dead wood.
