I look at the botany photo of the day every day. This is a service provided by the Botanical Gardens at the University of British Columbia and I really appreciate their attempt to wean us away from animals.
Usually the photographs are spectacular closeup images taken with cameras that are much more expensive than mine. But yesteday's picture was from Google Earth! It shows 100 year old fairy rings near Kensington Palace in central London. The rings are probably caused by Marasmius oreades. Find out how a little fungus can make rings visible from so high.
9 comments :
Looking at this without any other information (and without a scale), I'd suggest it was differential growth (causing the dark areas) over a prehistoric settlement.
But it's clearly on a lawn, because it's mowed. One would think that builders of the palace would demolish whatever preexisting structures to create a flat lawn.
No, it's fungi .....
They get everywhere ...
They have the look of the kind of prehistoric marks that are often seen in crop fields, and are so useful to archaeologists. Cropmarks can be preserved despite ploughing; they aren't strictly speaking positive features, rather things like ditches that have been filled in and have slightly different amounts of moisture to the surrounding sediment - crops grow in them slightly quicker and taller and this allows them to be distinguished. Therefore if the lawn simply grew over existing soil and was then tended, this probably wouldn't destroy the marks.
Having said that, it is in central London and who knows exactly what kind of construction history the site has had. The palace is fairly old, so this would shelter it from any outside development over the past few centuries, though the royals themselves could very well have played around extensively with the site. It was originally built when Kensington was a village, outside of the city of London and this would have sheltered it from development to a certain degree. It is more likely that cropmarks would have been destroyed at the site, but I guess this isn't 100% certain.
It is pretty close to my house; I might pop over and have a more detailed look. Is there anything that I could see that would uniquely identify this fungus Larry?
stevef asks,
It is pretty close to my house; I might pop over and have a more detailed look. Is there anything that I could see that would uniquely identify this fungus Larry?
The discussion on the Botanical Gardens site suggests this area is closed to the general public. You probably won't be allowed in if you just show up at the gate during the day. The lawn is right beside Kensington Palace.
I suggest you dress in black—including a black hood and mask—and climb over the gate late at night. Be sure to bring a knapsack with a shovel and some chemicals for testing the fungus. You might want to throw in a big knife in case you have to cut some of the roots.
Good luck! Let us know what happens.
What is the location of these? Playing with google earth is so fun (E.G. 50° 0'38.20"N 110° 6'48.32"W is a extremely nice place..)
I have always been anti-Royalist; maybe this is my chance! I didn't realise the location was unavailable; it just looked like one of the accessible lawns out the front, next to Hyde park. Oh well.
Why not contact rbg@kew.org ?
They would be able to tell you very quickly ....
My money is still on Marasmus
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