Shrooming in London

Recently, I try to get out into the gardens as often as possible. Especially now that it is autumn, the rains have been through, and it is rather warm. The conditions for fungi forays (searching for mushrooms) are perfect! Can you help me identify these? Here are some mushrooms I found around Kew Gardens:

Agaricus sp. (these are related to the button mushrooms you buy in the grocery store!)

Agaricus sp.

Clitocybe inversa

Clitocybe inversa

Clitocybe inversa

Clitocybe inversa

Very nice mushroom with red/orange cap fringed with white feathery scales. Abundant in the area, found growing on mulch. Dark spore print, white fibrous stem without annulus/ring.

same as above

Unknown, very cute small white mushroom cluster on grass

Beautiful blue/green Hygrocybe spp. growing on the leaves beneath a beech tree (Fagus sylvatica).

Same as above. Note white, fibrous stem without ring.

Same as above. Note white/cream spores, adnate gills (gills attached to stem).

A mini forest of unknown little brown mushrooms growing on the mulch beneath Yew trees (Taxus baccata) and pines at Kew Gardens.

Clitocybe sp.

Unknown mushroom. Looks like a mini Ink cap mushroom (Coprinus sp.), but I did not check the gills for ink. It was tiny!!

Agaricus sp. fairy ring

Agaricus sp. Note the annulus/ring around the stem and the dark gills.

Lepiota sp.

And of course, you know I can't resist photographing some wildflowers along the way too.

Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
Update: This was a fun find - I just learned that the Cornflower is an endangered species and a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species! Wow! Check out more information about it's status. Apparently, this is not so much because of it's distribution (which is quite widespread), but because it is important to the protection of arable lands and therefore, biodiversity.

Caladesi Island Necklace Pod

I recently took a trip to one of Florida's most beautiful and last remaining natural barrier islands with the Suncoast Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. The island, called Caladesi Island, was voted the nation's best beach in 2008. It was originally settled by a Swiss man named Henry Sharrer in 1883. It is now part of Florida's State Park system and is preserved without development. How lucky! The island is accessible via a short ferry ride from another barrier island to the north called Honeymoon Island.


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While on Caladesi, we observed a large population of a native Florida shrub known as Necklace-Pod (Sophora tomentosa). It is a dense, multi-trunked shrub with beautiful rounded leaves, yellow pea-like flowers, and the neatest seedpods. The day we were on the island, a storm was threatening in the Gulf of Mexico and thankfully stole all the moisture from the air, leaving us with a perfectly sunny and extraordinarily calm day on the island. The plants in the understory of a pine and oak canopy were easily viewed in the sunlight. Although I've seen Necklace-Pod before, I've never noticed the brightly colored, symmetrically aligned orange petioles of the leaves. As you can see below, a petiole is the part that connects the leaf to the stem of the tree. This tiny nuance of the shrub was so beautiful!

The pods look like the picture below. Seeing these pods, I excitedly cracked one open, expecting to see large beanlike fruits. This was not the case. Instead, a flurry of extremely small brown seeds poured out into my hand. Although I have a tendency to try to eat things in the wild, these didn't look so appetizing, so I dropped them to the ground. Good thing! Turns out the seeds are dangerous to eat. They contain an alkaloid called cytisine which causes nausea, vomiting, and acts as a laxative. None of those things sound good on a hike!

The bright yellow flowers bloom in a bright clump toward the end of the branches throughout the year. Apparently, they are well liked by many insects including this Monarch butterfly we saw feeding madly on these sweet flowers. The Monarch butterfly populations are on their fall migration pattern to Mexico where they will spend the winter. This individual wanted one last succulent taste of Florida before moving on.


I hope you too are enjoying all the wonderful plant and wildlife happenings of this fall!

Jack in the What?

Look...Jack's in the pulpit!! Nope, I'm not at church. This time I was wandering beneath some pines and came upon this rather large Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum).

According to the Veterinary Medicine Library at the University of Illinois, the Jack-in-the-pulpit is poisonous to animals. The corm (i.e. the underground plant stem that looks like a tuber and stores starches/energy for the plant) of the plant contains calcium oxalate crystals, possibly an alkaloid, and volatile acrid compounds. Apparently, it is "gathered, dried and sold by drug collectors". Some of the lovely side effects:

• intense burning and biting sensation in the mouth, throat, and stomach (probably from the calcium oxalate crystals)
• inflammation of the stomach and intestine
• difficulty of breathing due to swelling of mouth and throat
  

BUT...as with many plants, even though part of it is poisonous, if done differently, it's edible...very tricky! IF the plant root/corm is properly dried or cooked it can be eaten. Native Americans used it to treat sore eyes, rheumatism, bronchitis, and snakebites. Oh, and something else fun that Native Americans used it for - to induce sterility.

According to one website - "It is reported that they also used it diagnostically by dropping a seed in a cup of water and if the seed went around four times clockwise the patient would recover and if less the patient would die." - I think that's really cool! What a great way to diagnose people. Plus the seeds (which are out in Fall) are a beautiful red color, so this would be a very suspenseful tradition!

Garden

So the garden is underway and a few things are beginning to pop up. Including radishes:
And yummy spinach:
And here are the rhubarb plants in full foliage already!
More gardening to come; potatoes go in next!!

Birth of the Mayapple

It is the beginning of April and already, a plant named the Mayapple is popping up through the leaf litter and making it's debut. Here is the lifecycle of the Mayapple thus far in April:
Notice that there is an acorn in the background. These shoots are tiny!

The leaves slowly unfurl to reveal this:

The Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) is in the Berberidaceae family. This is a two leaved plant which vaguely resembles an umbrella and is also known as a Devil's apple. It will flower in May and form into a berry which ripens in late summer and is the only part of the plant that isn't considered poisonous. The plant's rhizome is being studied for it's anticancer properties. Native American Indians were known to gather the rhizomes in autumn, dry them, and grind them into a powder which was eaten or drank as a laxitive, to treat intestinal worms, or as a poultice to treat warts and skin tumors. Another interesting fact - Although this is an abundant plant in the forests of the northeastern US, it is endangered in Florida.

Springtime in the Woods

It's the beginning of April, rainy, cold and breezy. Not gorgeous weather, but beginning to tease us with a hint of what springtime will be like once it gets into the full swing of things. I'm a sucker for teasing, so of course this tempted me into going for a hike to see what was waking up under the cold dead leaves of fall. Here's what we found:

My big brother and I ventured out into the woods to play in our old stomping grounds. It was like we were little kids all over again, playing in woods, finding dead things, finding new growth, and most of all, getting very muddy and enjoying every moment of it!

These are the skunk cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus) that are out in full force along the creeks and forested wetlands on our property. Sure, they're a little smelly, but to us it's the smell of the death of winter! And really, they are something beautiful to behold.

Skunk cabbage was used by the Native American Indians to treat convulsions, whooping cough, toothache, and other conditions. The root is used as a poultice for wounds. Even modern physicians have used it for epileptic seizures and severe coughs. The leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals which, if eaten raw, can burn your mouth and the roots are considered toxic raw. To remove these properties, the leaves and roots can be dried and reconstituted in soups and stews.

These are not the only signs of spring. We also heard the spring peepers begin singing their mating chorus, the barred owl is seeking a domestic mate by calling her with "who cooks for you", and the turkeys are gobbling through the valley.

Kudzu

Kudzu (Pueraria montana) is a non-native, invasive vine in Florida and as far north as Massachusetts. It grows so fast that it also goes by the common names "foot-a-night vine" and "vine-that-ate-the-South"! It's origins are in Eastern Asia, but it was originally introduced to the United States as an ornamental in 1876. Then it was used as a forage plant in Florida in the 1920s. AND, hard to believe, but our own U.S. Soil Conservation Service actually promoted it's use in the 1930s as an erosion control plant. It has the ability to grow so densely over a tree that it will kill it simply by shutting out the sunlight.

So, even though they are little talked about, there are some edible and medicinal uses for Kudzu.

• Roots - The roots, which are rich in starch, can be cooked. The starch can then be extracted and used as a coating for deep fried foods, as a way to thicken soups, or even made into a noodle. The root is a staple food in Japan.
• Flowers - The flowers can be cooked or pickled
• Stems and young leaves - can be eaten raw or cooked. The young shoots taste like a cross between a pea and a bean.
• Medicinal - parts of the Kudzu vine are commonly used in China to treat alcohol abuse by suppressing the appetite for alcohol. Modern day medicines used to treat alcholol abuse change the way your body metabolizes alcohol, but wouldn't it be better if you just didn't crave it anymore?

Rye (Secale cereale)

Common rye (Secale cereale) found in southern Maryland along the Potomac River shoreline. The grain from this grass, in the wheat tribe (Triticeae), can be used to make flour, rye bread, rye beer, whiskies, vodkas and animal fodder. It can also be eaten whole (rye berries). A rye extract known as Oralmat is also now being marketed as an alternative cancer treatment.