Hello Folks! Fungi come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours. Whilst some are edible, others are poisonous and best avoided. They can be found almost everywhere and are often easily overlooked. Many can be seen in woodland and meadow, especially at this time of year.Each Monday for 12 weeks I will be posting a little teaser for you. Without looking in books or on the internet (i.e - no cheating), see if you can identify the UK fungus. On Wednesday, so as long as no-one has guessed it, I will post one clue. On Friday I will post the answer along with some additional information for your interest.MYSTERY FUNGI QUIZ #11Clue: At home with the ents.
" A little more cryptic" ? I am stumped, can't see the wood for the trees, I think I need a ball of string to find my way out of this one - in other words completely lost.
Caroline in Jersey
Cin J
If it helps, it is quite a rare fungus.... like I say if it helps :) All will be revealed tomorrow.
Germain said:I am stumped, can't see the wood for the trees
That's quite appropriate in this case, Caroline, given the original clue. I'm conceding defeat one this one.
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Tony
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Last minute desperate suggestion,the mace in the first clue made me think of pepper spray so I'll have a go at Peppery Bolete. No doubt wrong but I like the name anyway.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
You may be onto it seaman ??
To each their own
Congratulations to all of you who guessed Old Man of the Woods (Strobilomyces strobilaceus). First a bit about the clues: At home with the ents. Ents are a race of beings from Tolkein’s ‘Lord of the Rings’. Ents are shepherds of the forests and are very, very old. Hence, anything of any great age found in a woodland, would be at home with the Ents. The second clue: Two orbs lit with mace cosy use left. If you look at the Latin for this fungus, you will notice that ‘Strobil’ is mentioned in both the first and second Latin name, hence two. ‘Orbs lit’ is an anagram of Strobil. The remaining letters, omyces and aceus from the two words when unjumbled spell out ‘mace cosy use’.
Belonging to the Boletaceae family, the cap of the Old Man of the Woods is dark grey and pyramidical in shape (4 to 10cm wide) with distinct overlapping scales. Found in both deciduous and coniferous woodland from July to November, this fungus is edible, but only when young. It was first described by Italian naturalist Giovanni Scopoli in 1770.
A picture of an Old Man of the Woods fungus is here.
Did you know that: this fungus is rare in the UK and is more commonly found in USA and Canada.
Keep an eye out for next week’s fun(gi) quiz!
Take care,
Claire
Well done TJ :)
Crikey, I got it right, purely by chance and I didn't even think I had. Couldn't fathom the second clue at all.
Is the ents abbreviated Mrs T? I'll ask Aunty Clue...she always has the answer!
Congratulations to all of you who guessed Old Man of the Woods (Strobilomyces strobilaceus). First a bit about the clues: At home with the ents. Ents are a race of beings from Tolkein’s ‘Lord of the Rings’. Ents are shepherds of the forests and are very, very old. Hence, anything of any great age found in a woodland, would be at home with the Ents.
I can see where this is going! need to invest in Terry Prachett and JK me thinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done TJ, if that were a shot in the dark! by Jove watson it was a splendid one!