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| Country diary: sci-fi fungus flourishes in the forest | Country diary: sci-fi fungus flourishes in the forest |
| (4 months later) | |
| New Forest Octopus-like tentacles are stained with what appears to be congealed blood and there’s a stink of rotting flesh | |
| Graham Long | |
| Sat 23 Sep 2017 05.30 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 16.33 GMT | |
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| Naturalists need good contacts, and generalists such as me depend on observant friends to pass the word when they see anything that might be of interest. A phone call alerted me. My friend had spotted a photographer at work, and enquired what he was taking. He had been tipped off that there was a rare fungus nearby and had come to get some pictures of it. Jeremy thought I should know. | Naturalists need good contacts, and generalists such as me depend on observant friends to pass the word when they see anything that might be of interest. A phone call alerted me. My friend had spotted a photographer at work, and enquired what he was taking. He had been tipped off that there was a rare fungus nearby and had come to get some pictures of it. Jeremy thought I should know. |
| So we’ve come to an old gravel working in the west of the forest with precise instructions how to find what he’d seen. They concluded: “Look for a pile of dung. It’s there.” | So we’ve come to an old gravel working in the west of the forest with precise instructions how to find what he’d seen. They concluded: “Look for a pile of dung. It’s there.” |
| So it was. A solitary specimen of the fungus named devil’s fingers, Clathrus archeri, a species new to me. Had we not known in advance what it was, we would have hesitated to examine it closely. This is a sad specimen, shaped like a distorted hand with five reddish arthritic fingers splayed around a hollowed flesh-coloured palm, its work done. | So it was. A solitary specimen of the fungus named devil’s fingers, Clathrus archeri, a species new to me. Had we not known in advance what it was, we would have hesitated to examine it closely. This is a sad specimen, shaped like a distorted hand with five reddish arthritic fingers splayed around a hollowed flesh-coloured palm, its work done. |
| At its prime, the bright-red tapering arms of this fungus look for all the world like something created by a sci-fi special effects department. Growing from a slightly translucent egg that can sit on the surface of the ground for weeks before breaking, the fungus produces between four and eight octopus-like tentacles stained with what appears to be congealed blood but is actually dark green spore bodies. Its stink of rotting flesh attracts flies and beetles, which carry the spores away, no doubt the reason why it is spreading so quickly. Sadly, this one is past its prime, limp and already decaying. | At its prime, the bright-red tapering arms of this fungus look for all the world like something created by a sci-fi special effects department. Growing from a slightly translucent egg that can sit on the surface of the ground for weeks before breaking, the fungus produces between four and eight octopus-like tentacles stained with what appears to be congealed blood but is actually dark green spore bodies. Its stink of rotting flesh attracts flies and beetles, which carry the spores away, no doubt the reason why it is spreading so quickly. Sadly, this one is past its prime, limp and already decaying. |
| A few days later, guided by Sara Cadbury, a New Forest mycologist, we are shown an area where the fungus flourishes. Here are all stages of development, from pinkish golf-ball-sized eggs to the emergent squid-like form, and the fully grown six-armed fungus. | A few days later, guided by Sara Cadbury, a New Forest mycologist, we are shown an area where the fungus flourishes. Here are all stages of development, from pinkish golf-ball-sized eggs to the emergent squid-like form, and the fully grown six-armed fungus. |
| Discovered in the forest only 16 years ago, it was spotted in the gravel pit two years later. An immigrant from Australasia, first identified in Britain in 1914, it is said in the fungi guides to prefer woodland, parkland and mulch. So, who’d look for it by a pile of pony poo? | Discovered in the forest only 16 years ago, it was spotted in the gravel pit two years later. An immigrant from Australasia, first identified in Britain in 1914, it is said in the fungi guides to prefer woodland, parkland and mulch. So, who’d look for it by a pile of pony poo? |
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