Garden Tool Set

Date Photographed: 06/05/2012
Location: Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Doncaster
Resources: http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/hoof-fungus
Notes: This fungus is well known to grow in standing dead Birch trees. It's also used for tinder, with another common name for it being tinder fungus. I wouldn't be staying true to my enjoyment of bushcraft if I didn't embed a video of it being used for such a reason!

Date Photographed: 20/02/2013
Location: Green Lane Wood, Trowbridge
Resources: http://www.ispot.org.uk/node/315220

Date Photographed: 15/06/2013
Location: St. Giles, Stanton St. Quintin
Resources: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/laetiporus_sulphureus.html
Notes: Found growing on the Yew in the churchyard.

1. There are believed to be between 700,000 and 5.1 million different species of fungi on Earth. If we go with the upper limit, that means we currently only know 5% of them.
2. Beneath every mushroom, or fruiting body of fungus, is a network of thread-like hyphae. They create network of threads called mycelium that provide the nutrients to keep the organism alive. These threads are so tiny that in just 16 cubic cm of soil up to 13 kilometres of mycelium can be found.
3. It is believed that fungi were the first organism to leave the seas and colonise the land. It is thought that they ventured on to land in the form of lichens around 1.3 billion years ago.
4. The largest known specimen of fungus, Armillaria solidipes, is also the largest known organism in the world. It was found inn Oregon by Catherine Parks and extended over 900 hectares, which is around the same size as 1260 football pitches. Estimates of its weight go from 7000 tonnes to 35,000 tonnes and it may have been growing continuously from between 2400 years and 7200 years.
5. The largest collection of fungi species is at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. They have over 1.25 million individual specimens in their fungarium; including Alexander Fleming's original culture of penicillin and species first discovered by Charles Darwin.

Bibliography
Benson, W. (2012) Kingdom of Plants, London, Collins.

Last year I watched a few programmes about tribal life, including those of Bruce Parry - who is always up for joining in the ceremonial aspects of tribal life. These tend to include ingestion of some type of plant that has psychoactive properties. These five facts look at the reasons and early use of these plants.

1. Sometimes termed 'Plants of the Gods' many plants have been used by people for their psychoactive purposes for many thousands of years, primarily for ceremonial, religious or spiritual purposes.
2. Some of the earliest evidence of people using plants for hallucinogenic purposes is that of the Peyote tribes using Lophophora williamsii around 5500 years ago. Lophophora williamsii is a spineless and rather small cactus that grows in the regions around Texas.
3. Thought to have been written between 2000 and 1400BC, the Indian writings Atharva Veda mention cannabis as one of its 'Five sacred plants'. In religious festivals, the leaves and flowers of the female plant are infused into a drink called Bhang. But not only is this used for sacred purposes, it is also used for pain relief from battle wounds.
4. Some species of Acacia tree have psychoactive uses with the leaves, stems and roots brewed together with other ingredients for healing, religious or ceremonial purposes. In India the fruits can be used to make an alcoholic beverage that is apparently enjoyed by both people and elephants.
5. Psilocybin mushrooms, mainly of the genus Psilocybe are commonly known as 'Magic Mushrooms' because of their psychoactive properties. The natives of Mesoamerica have used hallucinogenic species of Psilocybe from pre-Columbian times right up to today for the purposes of religion, divination, and healing.

Bibliography
Benson, W. (2012) Kingdom of Plants, London, Collins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_spiritual_use_of_cannabis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia#Uses_in_folk_medicine
http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/bp_acaciaz.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_mushroom#Early

Date Photographed: 30/04/2012
Location: Cherhill Downs
Resources: http://fungi-of-clumber-park.co.uk/KRETZSCHMARIA%20DUESTA.html
Notes: Many thanks to hamadryad on WAB for the identification on this. This is growing on a dead Beech, as seen on the photo to the left. It's growing above Ganoderma applanatum which is the larger fungus.

Date Photographed: 30/04/2012
Location: Cherhill Downs
Resources: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/ganoderma_applanatum.html

Date Photographed: 10/02/2013
Location: Conigre Mead nature reserve, Melksham
Resources: http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/stereum-hirsutum.php

Date Photographed: 10/11/2013
Location: Warminster, Wiltshire
Resources: http://www.uksafari.com/candlesnuff.htm
Notes: Due to the antler shape of the tips, this fungus is also known as Stags Horn Fungus. It seems the the fungus starts as white and matures through grey to black.

Quite a nice surprise to see this fungus. We saw it while out looking for some 'cache and dash' geocaches. We didn't find the cache! But we noticed on the online log for the cache that two others had looked for the cache this year and hadn't found it either - so we weren't too disappointed. The great thing about geocaches is that they take you to places you may never normally go and even if you're only looking for caches next to the road, there are nice surprises to be had!

Date Photographed: 13/11/2013
Location: Giles Wood, Wiltshire
Resources: http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/tremella-mesenterica.php
Notes: This fungus has many common names including yellow brain and golden jelly fungus.