Bitter oysterling

The morning was sunny, but I had to stay in as two visitors were expected, not to mention some parcels containing parts for the computer that Ben's planning to build. As soon as I was free to go out, the clouds gathered, and the sun promptly disappeared, only to return again as soon as I'd arrived home!

Pete and I had been planning to go to Ring Haw, but when we arrived the small car-parking area was just about full - there was obviously something happening so we decided to move on to Bedford Purlieus instead. The light wasn't very good at this stage, but I was able to photograph this very attractive fungus, growing on the bottom of a decaying oak log.

Bitter oysterling Panellus stipticus is a widely distributed, hardwood-rotting saprobe, common in the extensive ancient woodlands of south-eastern counties such as Kent, Sussex and Hampshire and in well wooded areas of the Midlands such as the Forest of Dean and the Wyre Forest. There are actually very few records from around Peterborough, and I don't remember noticing it before.

It can be recognized by its small size (caps 1-3 cm across); the tiny, lateral stem that terminates in an abrupt line where it meets the gills; the tan to whitish, woolly cap surface; the (usually) bitter taste; and the white spore print.

This little mushroom has reportedly been used as a styptic (blood thickening) agent, and it apparently has luminescent gills. There are several images showing the intense green bioluminescence that can occur in a totally darkened room, one of which can be found here. It must have been quite eerie for our ancestors to have come across this phenomenon in a dark wood!