Added on 31/12/2011Fungi

A Hairy Story : Daldinia concentrica


By Chris Skellern



I spotted a 'nice' Daldinia example whilst out surveying in March 2005. The site was 'way up north', and it was growing on a Horse Chestnut tree which I thought is a little uncommon as these brackets are normally associated with Ash.



It has a glossy black-brown colour (see above), was quite heavy and looked like a worthy addition for my little collection of fungi brackets (reserved for those which will hopefully dry out and stay in one piece as opposed to those that turn into paper with 23,733 insects eating and swarming from it across your desk - ahhh memories)!

So, much to the amusement of the landscape architect (who offered toilet paper to go with it), the little blighter went in my pocket. Once I arrived back in sunny Southampton, it was placed on the fungi shelf and forgotten.
However, all was not what it seemed. One morning, something odd caught my eye, something 'not quite right'. And I freaked out when I saw the following hairy Daldinia.



I was quite amazed at the speed it was shedding its spores. And with there being no wind to remove them as they emerge, I guess they were just accumulating and forming the 'strings'. I tried collecting an individual string on a finger but they disintegrated into fine dust at the slightest movement.



I have an old toy PC microscope (bought from Ebay) so I took a close up of the dust. Not a brilliant result but take a peep at the following.



So, what became of the bracket? I decided it was just too scary to keep, so I washed it, sliced it in half, scanned it and threw it! It had a good life.



The following picture shows a close up of the fungi surface. Each 'dot' is a spore exit point from a 'Perithecium' (see above).







Please Note: Many Fungi are toxic and individual reactions to them vary widely. Do not touch or eat fungi unless you have accurately identified them. The AIE can not accept any legal responsibility or liability for errors in identification or for individual reactions to the consumption of fungi.