UK Fungi

Thank you Mark and Neil for clarifying the differences between afrorevoluta and revoluta. I had been oscillating between the two and the more I read, the more uncertain I became. Always a time to seek expert advice. A new species for VC110 and one for the herbarium for future reference. The next cha...

Hypotrachyna is not common in the Outer Hebrides (5 records of 3 species) and this is the first time I have encountered the genus. So this query will be very short if I'm not looking at Hypotrachnya. It was collected from North Uist from a coastal conifer plantation and was found on a very small lar...

Thank you Neil, your comments were extremely helpful. I have read the descriptions in LGBI, Dobson and Fungi and Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland again, discovered where I went astray in the key, and found a darker corner where to use the UV torch The soralia are now showing a very positive UV f...

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Smooth, waxy bluish/grey thallus. The white areas seem to be associated with eroded soralia, and there are pale greenish soralia on the edge of the thallus or in the areas growing in the bark crevices. C-ve, Pd-ve, KC -ve, K -ve or a very faint reaction, UV-ve. ...

This specimen was collected from the same conifer plantation on North Uist at the same time as the fertile Parmotrema crinitum. Usnea subfloridana is widely distributed throughout the islands on both trees and fence posts, and when present is usually abundant. The presence of apothecia seems to be u...

Thank you Jenny, that is an interesting observation. With our mild oceanic climate and limited range of habitats (not many trees) not only is the range of species restricted but they are often unusual in their "behaviour" and choice of substrate. I often have to spend considerable time checking my i...

Last week we visited an abandoned trial conifer plantation on North Uist, Outer Hebrides, on an exposed, very wet moorland hillside (alt 102 m). One corner of the plantation had been hit by a severe gale at some time and there were a number of fallen, dead Sitka spruce. In this part of the world con...

When I saw the initial post I was tempted to suggest Xanthoparmelia conspersa, but as a novice was rather reluctant to make the suggestion. The comment about using a tiny drop of reagent for the spot test is important, and I would add that the C+ red reaction can be very fugitive with the red colour...

I maintain the database for biological records for the Outer Hebrides (VC 110) for Outer Hebrides Biological Recording, a small group of amateur naturalists who collect and collate biological records for the islands on a voluntary basis. We have a policy of making all our records (apart from a few s...

Thank you for drawing our attention to this new information on Ramalina europaea and R. pollinaria s.lat. A severe shortage of trees makes it unlikely that I will find either, although there is a record of R. pollinaria dating back to 1960 from Stornoway on the island of Lewis. I will look carefully...

Thank you Janet.
It is not really urgent, I'm just trying to keep my sources up-to-date.

Christine

I am restructuring the [url=http://www.outerhebridesfungi.co.uk/]Fungi of the Outer Hebrides[url] website to incorporate new sections on lichenicolous fungi and lichens. I am aware of Hawksworth's publication The lichenicolous fungi of Great Britain and Ireland: an overview and annotated checklist p...