Razor Strop Fungus.

Otherwise known alas Piptoporus betulinus. The "betulinus" refers to it's preference for dead and decaying birch wood, while I can't identify this stump there were other similar specimens on fallen birch. Fungi species are notoriously varied, so my identification is not absolutely certain, if anyone can provide a more reliable i.d, please do, even though it will ruin the text that follows.
I need to do some work on my flash technique, here it looks too obvious.

A year or so ago, I was shown the number of identified species at each of a list of natural history sites. One place stood out as being far richer than all the others, a factor of ten springs to mind though Mrs TD would say that I'm exaggerating. The only thing special about that site was that it had been visited by a group of mycologists who had surveyed the fungi there.

There are a few interesting facts about the razor strop, apart from it really having been used to hone the edges of fine blades, such as - an interesting sex life: a specimen only has to mate with one other sex (fungi often do have to mate with more than one - honestly), in Britain, there are over thirty "other sexes" - a piece of information that suggests that there are many more than that in different parts of the world. And,

Otzi - the iceman, the five thousand year old mummy found in Tyrol was carrying this fungus, most likely for use as a medicine. It is, apparently, a very effective treatment for intestinal worms (I do hope that you're not eating your lunch) and, like all medicines, has an unpleasant taste.


Mrs TD is due home from her patchwork holiday this evening, I've tried to find a map of the airport which shows how to find the short stay car park - there isn't one. As I found out last week, there aren't sensible sign posts to help either.