by Robin Noble
Around the 10th of May, I became aware of this extraordinary thing growing in a small corner of our little cherry orchard. I thought that I could detect something of a smell from it, and vaguely assumed that it must be some sort of fungus. It did not stay long in the state which you see in the photograph below - the next day it was a bit taller, then it began to flatten and collapse, and in a few days there was very little of it left.
Inevitably, I asked the others if they had ever seen such a thing, and both Bruce and Lesley had - only twice each, I think, so it is quite rare. It is a Red Cage Fungus, (Clathrus Ruber), and it is supposed to belong to pine and oak woodland, appearing in the autumn and winter - I suppose its late appearance in our garden might be due to the fact that our winter was so dry. Why it decided to emerge in a rough little bed where snowdrops and cyclamen had bloomed earlier, I have no idea. The two Bruce saw were equally atypical, being on the side of a "stony sentier".
I had noticed a few flies around it; they are supposed to be attracted by the smell and so spread the spores in the next suitable place they find - I hope that there will not be too many of them appearing around us next year! Not that there appears to be much substance that you actually could eat, and I can't imagine that many folk would even think of it, but Lesley's book reports that it is inedible!
With thanks to Lesley and Bruce for their information.
Around the 10th of May, I became aware of this extraordinary thing growing in a small corner of our little cherry orchard. I thought that I could detect something of a smell from it, and vaguely assumed that it must be some sort of fungus. It did not stay long in the state which you see in the photograph below - the next day it was a bit taller, then it began to flatten and collapse, and in a few days there was very little of it left.
Inevitably, I asked the others if they had ever seen such a thing, and both Bruce and Lesley had - only twice each, I think, so it is quite rare. It is a Red Cage Fungus, (Clathrus Ruber), and it is supposed to belong to pine and oak woodland, appearing in the autumn and winter - I suppose its late appearance in our garden might be due to the fact that our winter was so dry. Why it decided to emerge in a rough little bed where snowdrops and cyclamen had bloomed earlier, I have no idea. The two Bruce saw were equally atypical, being on the side of a "stony sentier".
I had noticed a few flies around it; they are supposed to be attracted by the smell and so spread the spores in the next suitable place they find - I hope that there will not be too many of them appearing around us next year! Not that there appears to be much substance that you actually could eat, and I can't imagine that many folk would even think of it, but Lesley's book reports that it is inedible!
With thanks to Lesley and Bruce for their information.
