Elly West explores the mysterious world of mushrooms, which are unlike anything else you’ll find in your garden.
There’s something very mysterious about the world of fungi. Curious shapes emerge seemingly overnight from nowhere, particularly in autumn when a walk around the garden or through woodland will often reveal their squat domes, delicate parasols, or plate-like discs clinging to old wood.
These fascinating life forms are the basis for all life, essential to decomposition. Without fungi, plants wouldn’t grow and entire ecosystems would collapse. What’s more, there would be no wine, cheese, bread or penicillin, all of which use fungi in their making.
For centuries, it was thought that fungi were unusual plant forms, whereas now they are very much classed as their own distinct kingdom. While plants contain chlorophyll and produce their own food via photosynthesis, fungi get their nutrients by breaking down organic matter then absorbing it. In the same way that the fruits of a plant are just one part of a much larger structure, which includes roots, leaves and branches, likewise mushrooms are the fruits of the fungi, where spores are produced for reproduction.
Unlike plants, fungi don’t need sunlight to grow, and the mushrooms that we see are a sign that there is a much larger living thing hard at work out of sight and away from daylight, whether under our lawn or in a rotting log.
The rapid growth of a mushroom can be likened to a balloon being inflated with water. While its structure takes more time to grow and form underground, once conditions are right, it will then fill with water and expand, pushing above the ground and growing sometimes as quickly as half a centimetre per minute.
Plant of the month: Giant puffball
Not technically a ‘plant’ as mentioned, but the giant puffball is probably the safest mushroom for novice foragers, as the only real look-a-like is a football when seen from a distance. I remember a certain excitement on country walks as a child if a puffball was ever found. It would be taken home and eaten (not by myself, as I’ve never liked any kind of mushrooms), but my mum would slice or cube it,
then fry it in butter.
The fruit itself is up to around 30cm across with a smooth white, velvety surface. There isn’t a stem, although a fine root-like filament may connect it to the ground. Inside the flesh is pure white – any other colour and it shouldn’t be eaten as it means the spores are starting to form. Cooked puffball (I’m told) has a texture like tofu, and can be used much the same way in recipes, sauteed and added to pasta sauce, raw and cubed in salads, added to stir fries, or breaded and fried. The rind shouldn’t be eaten, only the flesh inside.
Look out for puffballs in grasslands, lawns, on commons and by roadsides and open woodland.
Fairytales and folklore
As a child, I loved a fairy ring. As an adult, not so much, given the damage that they can cause to our lawns. But there’s no denying there’s something almost magical about seeing the sudden appearance of a perfect circle of mushrooms in the morning, where none were there the previous day. Fairy rings are caused from fungal mycelium growing outwards underground from a central point, sending root-like threads through the soil in a radial pattern.
Unfortunately, they can cause areas of dead or discoloured grass, by preventing water reaching the grass roots, although the nutrients released by the fungus can also result in areas of lush, fast-growing grass, particularly around the outside of the circle.
Unsurprisingly, fairy rings are the subject of folklore around the globe. In Britain and Ireland, they are generally seen as marking the places where fairies dance. However, step into the ring and join the dance, and you may well become bewitched and unable to leave.
Native Americans, on the other hand, thought the rings were caused by dancing bison, rather than fairies, while in Hawaii they are known as Menehune rings, after the legendary little people who build things in secret at night-time.
The fly agaric mushroom – with its striking red cap and white spots – is another fungus that has long caught the imagination, probably because of its distinctive appearance, but also perhaps because of the toxins it contains that can cause hallucinogenic affects. It appears in fairy tales, on Christmas cards and even video games, and can be seen in woodlands throughout the country from late summer until the first frosts of winter.
The good, the bad and the ugly
While most fungus in the garden is busy breaking down wood, leaves and organic waste, forming symbiotic relationships with plant roots and helping them to grow, not all fungus is welcome in our gardens.
Honey fungus spreads bootlace like rhizomorphs through the soil, and infects woody shrubs and trees, causing them to die. The most typical visible symptom is white fungal growth between the bark and the wood of a dying tree, as well as clumps of honey-coloured mushrooms appearing on infected stumps in autumn. There’s no cure, but removal of old tree stumps and good garden hygiene helps, and there are also plants that are less susceptible to the fungus, including pittosporum, sarcococca, jasmine, hydrangea, daphne and ornamental grasses, so consider planting these in areas where it might be present.
The largest living organism on earth is a honey fungus in Oregon, thought to be thousands of years old, covering around 10 square kilometres and weighing up to 35,000 tons.
In the UK, mushrooms generally appear from late summer through autumn, especially after rain followed by mild weather. If you know your mushrooms, then it’s a great time for foraging, as there are many edible species that can be found on a country walk, including the field mushroom and puffball.
However, if in any doubt, it’s probably safer to look but don’t touch – or take part in an organised foraging walk with an expert who can tell you what is safe and what isn’t. Steve England runs nature-themed walks, events and courses in Bristol, including wild food identification and foraging walks.
Visit steveengland.co.uk to find out more. Or try goforaging.co.uk for foraging walks and courses taking place in and around Bristol this autumn.
Elly West is a professional garden designer, working in and around the Bath and Bristol areas; find her at ellyswellies.co.uk