Fungi Friday 🍄

photographing fungi in West Sussex

There’s a massive mushroom in my house

Published by

Daniel Greenwood

on

West Sussex, September 2023

Not quite the post I was expecting to make this week, but I found a woodland fungus growing in a dark and poorly heated corner of my house!

I noticed brown spores on the floor next to the gas meter and wondered at first if it might be dry rot. But then I remembered there is no wood at this level. When I looked at the area a mushroom with a curved-over cap was growing.

Looking at the stipe I could see the typical reddish hue of a red-cracking bolete (Xerocomellus chrysenteron). That’s a mushroom I expect to see in the woods, not in my house!

Thankfully I checked up on the spore colour and this bolete produces brown spores.

Dry rot produces brown spores so I was a bit worried at first.

Anyway, I took this pesky mushroom outside and chucked it in the bushes. I am wondering if the spores were brought in on my boots, as the shoe rack is right next to this.

Though it’s been a slow start to autumn, I wasn’t expecting boletes to be coming indoors!

Thanks for reading.

3 responses to “There’s a massive mushroom in my house”

  1. sporesmouldsandfungi avatar
    sporesmouldsandfungi

    When I lived in Rotorua I had some Paxillus involutus come up in the front garden close to the foundations of the house. Paxillus is mycorrhizal most of silver birch here and both have been introduced here from the northern hemisphere. What was interesting was there were not any mycorrhizal trees in the front garden but there was a silver birch in the back garden. The roots of the silver birch ran about 10 m under the house to the front garden and that’s were its mycorrhizal fungus was fruiting. As your bolete is probably mycorrhizal its possibly coming off tree roots running under your house? Do you have mycorrhizal trees near by?

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    1. Daniel Greenwood avatar
      Daniel Greenwood

      That is so interesting, thank you. I’ve seen photos of Paxillus growing in a basement in the UK. I think it is really unlikely to be tree-related in my house but the closest tree is a lime tree (Tilia). I don’t think Tilia have much in the way of mycorrhizal relationships do they?

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      1. sporesmouldsandfungi avatar
        sporesmouldsandfungi

        No, limes are endomycorrhizal I think. Most boletes are mycorrhizal and the only one that isn’t that I know personally is Buchwaldoboletus sphaerocephalus. It was growing on pine wood chip soaked with sheep urine! See https://sporesmouldsandfungi.wordpress.com/2016/09/04/sheep-milk-and-boletes/

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