Orange Pinwheel Marasmius siccus

Orange Pinwheel (Marasmius siccus, 琥珀小皮傘).

Another species of marasmius, small, delicate and growing on Yuelu Mountain last rainy June.

Marasmius Purpureostriatus

Marasmius purpureostriatus (紫条沟小皮伞).

Here seen amidst the wet decaying leaves on Yuelu Mountain last April: in one spot there were dozens of them one day, and soon after they had all disappeared.

Sulzbacheromyces Sinensis

Sulzbacheromyces sinensis  (中华丽烛衣).

A basidiolichen with erect ochre fruiting bodies and a dark green crust which slowly turned grey. It was growing in several places on Yuelu Mountain last July.

Blushing Wood Mushrooms

Blushing Wood Mushroom (Agaricus sylvaticus, 林地蘑菇).

Beautiful pair of mushrooms growing last June on Yuelu Mountain. There were young, 2-3cm with white skirts still hiding their greyish gills, brown spores and the flesh turned slightly red when cut.

Blushing Rosette

Blushing Rosette (Abortiporus biennis, 二年残孔菌).

This colourful fungus was hiding by a small stream on Yuelu Mountain. It has otherwise been a very dry season, and lacking in fungi.

Saffron Milkcap

Saffron Milkcap (Lactarius deliciosus, 松乳菇).

I was at a conference at Shibadong Village in West Hunan, which has been vaunted as exemplary model in China's poverty reduction campaign over the past ten years. I had a chance to explore a little, and met an elderly Miao man on the roadside who was selling these mushrooms that he had picked on the mountain earlier that morning. They are very popular in rural Hunan, and usually cooked with pork.

Unknown Boletes

Back on July 4, I saw a dozen of these dry jet-black mushrooms protruding sideways from the mossy slopes of Yuelu Mountain. Time was pressing, and I did not examine them more closely: perhaps I will see them again next year and venture an identification; perhaps I missed by chance and they will remain a mystery.

Stubble Rosegill

Stubble Rosegill (Volvopluteus gloiocephalus, 粘盖草菇).

The week promises to be busy, rainy and cloudy, and so affords a good opportunity to revisit some notes and photographs from the spring and summer; especially some observations that were interesting but still are a little uncertain. This fungus was photographed on March 20th in the mudflats of the Xiang River. It was impressively large: almost 20cm in height with a 9cm cap. My identification is not complete certain, but is based on its size, the presence of a white cap with free crowded white gills, the absence of a ring ring, a bag-like volva at its base, and a mild wasabi odour.

A Strange Mushroom

A strange mushroom found in Wangling Park on June 25 last year, and is still a mystery to me. My field notes were not very complete, but indicate that mushroom in the centre of picture was 14 cm in height with a 5.5 cm pileus and a firm stipe 1.5 cm in the middle and 2.5 cm at its base. There was no significant aroma and the spore print was white. The genus cantharocybe was suggested on inaturalist but there are no similar observations recorded in this part of China. Cantharocybe virosa is found in southeast Asia growing near cocos nucifera, but there are no such trees in Wangling Park.

Snow Fungus

Snow Fungus (Tremella fuciformis, 银耳).

Wet summer weather means fungus. This one is more common in a soup than in the wild, and I have not often seen it on Yuelu Mountain (perhaps due to foragers), but there is was, amidst a pile of decomposing branches.

Weeping Widow Mushroom

Weeping Widow (Lacrymaria lacrymabunda, 毡毛小脆柄菇).

There are many mushrooms appearing on Yuelu Mountain due to the humity and rain. These weeping willow mushrooms were not on the mountain itself but in a patch of grass nearby. They have hairy caps. The gills are yellow-brown when they are fresh but soon turn black and are often laden with dew (they drip or 'weep'). The spore print is black but one has to be quick to get it as the picked mushrooms quickly turn to oozing black mush.

Wrinkly Stinkhorn

Wrinkly Stinkhorn (Phallus rugulosus, 细皱鬼笔).

A fungus with a somewhat cosmopolitan distribution: this is the first time I have seen on Yuelu Mountain, standing erect in a mix of various new growths and ramie plants. The Latin name means 'wrinkled penis'.

Ear Fungus

Ear Fungus (Auricularia cornea, 角质木耳).

I often order this fungus as a side in local restaurants but it is also delightful to encounter it in the wild: here is was nice to see something delicious and good coming out of the falling of a tree.

Yellow Deer Mushrooms

Yellow Deer Mushroom (Pluteus chrysophlebius, 金褐光柄菇).

A beautiful cluster of young iridescent fungi growing on a pile of rotting wood left by the Xiang River. The older mushrooms become yellow-brown and the gills age from white to pallid yellow to pinkish brown. They have no veil, a yellow stipe and the tallest two reached 5 cm in height with caps 2 to 3.5 cm wide. They smell faintly of bleach and the spore print is brownish pink.

Calvatia Craniiformis

Brain Puffball (Calvatia craniiformis, 头状秃马勃).

Another calvatia growing on Yuelu Mountain during this hot humid season. I don't see them on the lower slopes but at higher elevations these ostentatious wrinkled brains seem to be everywhere. This one shows burrowing holes made by small beetles, which frequently make them a summer residence, before they crumble into spores and dust.

Calvatia Boninensis

Calvatia boninensis (栗粒皮禿馬勃).

Year round there are fungi bursting from the red-brown dirt and dead vegetation throughout Yuelu Mountain (嶽麓山), though recently I have been seeing more and more puffball mushrooms appearing. One of the more common puffballs is this one. Curiously this species is not included in either of my primary guides to Hunan macrofungi, though it is catalogued in 张平，邓华志，陈作红，李进忠, 湖南壶瓶山大型真菌 [Atlas of Macrofungi from Huping Mountain in Hunan] (长沙: 湖南科学技术出版社, 2015) p. 47.