Honey... Beaver of a Mushroom! - Armillaria mellea

Honey2

Honey5

Honey1

Honey4

A controversial mushroom by all accounts. Armillaria mellea or bootlace fungus is responsible for much destruction of our native woodland. It is the silent slimy saprotrophic killer it don't care if the wood lives or dies white rot is the haymaker. It is the fungal beaver of this rotting world.

Honey fungus is found on all wood dead, live, standing or rotting and can be found in large quantities. In fact some of the largest living organisms in the world (which of course are fungi) are part of the Armillaria family and measure over 3.4 square miles now that is a serious fungal infestation. However it has taken 2,400 years to get this big... probably a good thing really.

These are classed as edible and the reviews ain't all bad, 'could cause dodgy belly' but in many parts of Europe honey fungus is ranked second only to the porcini for flavor... if only porcini grew on trees.