Sunday was a sunny, warm and pleasant day so it seemed a good idea to have a forage for late season fungi. The route took us through the wilderness, along the path from Earley Gate to the Library and then … Continue reading
While preparing for my lichen ‘walk’ on campus I examined one of the Horse chestnut trees near the pond in the Harris Garden. I’ve used this tree for teaching lichens on the MSc Plant Diversity course for the last three … Continue reading
Thanks to Dave Butlin I can add another toadstool to our campus list – the black with white spots is a distinctive feature of Coprinopsis picacea, the aptly called Magpie Inkcap. These toadstools were seen today in wood chips and … Continue reading
Whiteknights is an amazing teaching resource. Recently I led a lichen ‘walk’ for the Reading District Natural History Society from the car-park in front of the Harborne Building. I’ve put ‘walk’ in inverted commas because we really didn’t walk very … Continue reading
A species of plant that is present on campus in greater numbers this year is Black bindweed, Fallopia convolulus. It has appeared in quite large numbers behind the Agriculture Buildings and also around the Harborne Building.
This gallery contains 20 photos.
To help the new MSc Plant Diversity students settle in, and to provide us with a baseline against which we can tailor our teaching, the annual plant ID quiz is now running. For each of 18 samples the students were … Continue reading
These fungi are growing in grassland (both mown and un-mown) near the Meteorology Department. Most of them are under lime trees but there are also some under an oak tree about 10 metres away. In size they varied from 8 to 20 … Continue reading
Spotted by the Foxhill House entrance by Dave Butlin, the edible but rapidly liquefying Shaggy Ink Cap – Coprinus comatus. There is a nice blog about the species on ‘The mushroom diary‘.
Like many other plants bluebells suffer from a rust disease. Bluebell rust causes yellowed areas on the leaves filled with dark brown/black pustules. Some rusts have as many as five different kinds of spores in a complicated life-cycle that can … Continue reading
Daffodils suffer from a number of diseases. White mould, caused by Ramularia vallisumbrosae, can be a problem for daffodil growers in the South-west of England. It was first found in East England in 2001. The disease occurs occasionally on campus. … Continue reading
