Jelly brains

I went down into the valley where the river has overflowed its banks and the fields are oozing mud. It was quiet apart from the sound of rushing water. A big log, once a tree trunk, caught my attention. At this time of year I always make a bee-line for dead wood because it often hosts saprophytic fungi that live on the nutrients within the timber. They love moisture. I was in luck because there were at least 6 species growing on the log. Several were jelly fungi like this one, often called white brain fungus although I think it looks more like a bunch of intertwined earthworms. Its scientific name is Exidia thuretiana after the 19th century French botanist Gustave Thuret at whose property the fungus was first collected, although his main life's work was in seaweed sex.

I also found this black jelly fungus which is exactly like its name. Not unpleasant to handle, just soft and cool and squidgy. I broke some pieces off to take home and identify. When I got back we had tea and Christmas cake in the kitchen then I remembered the fungus and took it out of my pocket and put it on the table by the Old Man - well, on his plate actually. But I did say "don't eat!" before I went to get a mushroom book from another room. I was only gone a second or two but when I returned he was absentmindedly chewing the black jelly fungus, thinking it was another fragment of cake. When you're 91 it's easy to make a mistake like that. (He has come to no harm.)

However, I'm reminded of William Buckland, an eminent Victorian theologian, geologist and palaeontologist who pioneered the study of dinosaurs, and had a particular interest in collecting their fossilized faeces. Among many eccentricities, he aimed to eat every known animal. He worked his way through a very large number including panther, crocodile and mouse, but found bluebottle and mole the least palatable. Such was his appetite for unusual snacks, it was reported by a contemporary that "Talk of strange relics led to mention of the heart of a French King preserved ... in a silver casket. Dr. Buckland, whilst looking at it, exclaimed, 'I have eaten many strange things, but have never eaten the heart of a king before,' and, before anyone could hinder him, he had gobbled it up, and the precious relic was lost for ever. The heart eaten by William Buckland is said to have been that of Louis XIV. The fungus eaten by the Old Man is, I believe, Exidia truncata - deemed inedible.