Fungi Friday 🍄

I’ve not had much luck with chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) in recent years, and I wouldn’t quite describe this as lucky!

On a recent day trip to Cambridge (May 2025) I noticed a weird growth on an old cherry tree in the city centre.

It’s a very dry specimen and has already had a chunk pulled off – that’s what happens in cities, people are tactile!

Hopefully I’ll manage to see one of the really beautiful spreads of it this summer, it feels like it’s been a while.

I know it’s chicken of the woods because of its colour, the texture and the time of year it’s growing. Though I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it on cherry.

It’s edible unless it’s growing on yew. Cherry (Prunus avium) does contain traces of cyanide in the twigs, but I don’t know if that would be passed to the fungus.

Thanks for reading.