Tuesday 8 September 2020

The white dapperling – a mushroom that isn’t poisonous…


Fungi are remarkable organisms, essential for the recycling of nutrients by breaking down detritus. Most of us recognise mushrooms and toadstools – the fruiting bodies of many fungi – but we are less familiar with the huge numbers of wind-borne spores that they produce. Should the spores land in a suitable location, a complex mat of hyphae (threads that form the mycelium) then spreads underground, or through other substrata, using enzymes to digest organic matter and promote further growth. Mostly, the mycelium is also a mystery to us, but we know that the fruiting bodies must have grown from something because they don’t have roots. We can only speculate on how the fascinating life cycle of fungi evolved [1] and how the hyphae became organised for their various functions, including the rapid growth of fruiting bodies.

Last week, two unusual mushrooms appeared overnight on our lawn. They were white, with white spore-bearing gills and each appeared to grow from a bag-like structure around the base of the stem. They intrigued me sufficiently to pick one and take photographs of it (see below). Like many of us, I am aware that some mushrooms are highly toxic [1], so I treated the specimen I picked with caution. Fortunately, our local garage has a free supply of plastic gloves to prevent contact between hands and petrol, and I donned some of these (previously purloined for use in the age of COVID-19) to avoid direct contact. Even so, I washed my hands several times when I came back into the house (also a COVID-19 habit) as I was sure there was a possibility it was one of the deadly forms [1].



I needed help with identification and put the images on the Facebook page of the British Mycological Society. Fortunately, one of the members, Geoffrey Kibby, a well-known expert, suggested that my mushroom might be a specimen of Leucoagaricus leucothites that is common in lawns and which may cause gastrointestinal upsets in some humans, but is considered edible by others [2]. It seems I was being over-cautious.

Being a romantic, I was fascinated by the common name of “our” mushroom - the white dapperling – and that started me thinking once again about the common names that we give organisms [3]. Fungi are a rich source of such names and some are wonderfully descriptive, as a scan of any field guide will show. Some common names are connected to folklore, as mushrooms and toadstools have always fascinated us, and we have projected all manner of attributes to different types. As a result, common names are easy to remember and are used when we chat about mushrooms and toadstools, although many species are known only by their official name. Here is an abbreviated list taken from two of the best guides [4,5] together with the Latin binomial for each (some of which change from time to time) [3]:

Old Man of the Woods – Strobilomyces floccopus
Slippery Jack – Suillus luteus
Penny Bun – Boletus edulis
Slimy Spike Cap – Gomphidius glutinosus
Caesar’s Mushroom – Amanita caesarea
Death Cap – Amanita phalloides
Destroying Angel – Amanita virosa
The Blusher – Amanita rubescens
Stinking Parasol – Lepiota cristata
Amethyst Deceiver – Laccaria amethystea
Tawny Funnel Cap – Clitocybe flaccida
Clustered Tough Shank - Collibia confluens
Poached Egg Fungus – Oudemansiella mucida
Herald of the Winter – Hygrophorus hypothejus
Curry-scented Milk Cap – Lactarius camphoratus
The Charcoal Burner – Russula cyanoxantha
The Sickener – Russula emetica
Poison Pie – Hebeloma crustuliniforme
Lawyer’s Wig – Coprinus comatus
Fairies’ Bonnets – Coprinus disseminatus
Weeping Widow – Lacrymaria velutina
Chicken of the Woods – Laetiporus sulphureus
Witches’ Butter – Exidia plana
Jelly Babies – Leotia lubrica


Great names for fascinating organisms, aren’t they?

P.S. I wonder where the fruiting body that produced the spores that resulted in "our" white dapperlings was located?




[3]

[4] Stefan Buczacki (1992) Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe. London, HarperCollins.

[5] Roger Phillips (1994) Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe. London, Macmillan.