Kew Gardens and RHS report an excess of fungus because the public has sent "weird and wonderful" samples

Last modified on Friday, November 19, 2021 16.07 EST

Scientists say that Britain is welcoming a harvest year of mushrooms due to warm and humid weather, and the number of rare and unusual species discovered has increased.

After the infestation of fungi this year, the public has been sending unusual samples from their gardens to experts in Kew Gardens and the Royal Horticultural Society. Scientists say that this boom will become more common as the UK's climate warms and gets wet.

Lee Davies, curator of Kew's fungus museum, said: "This year is very busy. People saw fungi and sent them to us.

"If climate change means summer is warmer and more humid, then in the gardens of people like this, strange and wonderful fungi will bear wonderful fruits in our gardens."

A particularly interesting mushroom is the rare orchard tooth husk, and Kew obtained a high-quality, fresh sample for the first time.

"This is a rare fungus because it likes old traditional orchards, it likes fruit trees, and these are very rare now," Davis said.

"We have a lady who grows a fungus on an apple tree in her garden. She sent us a picture, and we thought it might be the case. She sent us a piece, and our mycologist has confirmed it is so."

Scientists are collecting mushroom samples from the public and sequencing their DNA, hoping to find new species and discover rare fungi. Davis encouraged gardeners to post samples of unusual fungi to Kew Gardens in order to study their genomes.

"We will sequence its DNA, so we have a good whole genome sequence of this species, because it is relatively rare, and it is unusual to have a beautiful fresh specimen. We are funding every animal, Plants and fungi are sequenced to understand the genome of each organism in the UK so that we can know what things are, which allows us to study the genome and these organisms.

"We can make new drugs or discover new species from it. Fungi are very useful for this: you can collect 10 samples from samples that you think are the same species, but you sequence the DNA and discover that you have multiple different species."

The Royal Horticultural Society was overwhelmed by public inquiries about strange fungi, an increase of 76% from last year. The team at RHS Garden Bridgewater near Salford this year discovered a rare and protected layered tooth fungus that is commonly found in southern England.

Its fungus expert Jassy Drakulic said that climate change means that interesting fungi will grow in different areas-but he also warned that gardeners may be attacked by more pests on their plants.

She explained: "The distribution range of fungi will change, trees and plants and the dead substances they produce will also change. This will encourage different fungi to thrive in different regions, and the range of warmth-loving fungi will increase.

"In recent years, we have seen some patterns of climate change in macrofungi, including jelly ears (Auricularia auricula judae), which previously only produced elderberry, but can now be seen on many different types of wood."

She also warned that climate change will promote some fungi that may damage other plants. "We expect that the dry summer in the south will make honey fungi a bigger problem for gardeners, because drought-stressed plants cannot resist root rot caused by Armillaria," she said.

"Some fungi that used to only bear fruit in autumn, such as sulfur clusters, are now also fruiting in spring, so some of these time changes are not just a few weeks, but the whole season. Then, this may be dependent on these fungi for food and habitat. Of other wild animals."

RHS showed off the strange fungi growing at their Harlow Carr site and invited the public to take a look at the different types, including furry ink caps, bright red flying toadstools, and large numbers of spectacular orange rust fungi.