A FUNGI enthusiast’s ‘Christmas came early’ after she discovered a rare mushroom in Trinity which is thought to be the first record of the species in the British Isles.
Wild-mushroom-lover Charlotte Shenkin spotted the Russula stenocystidiata – a species of fungi which is so rare it does not have a common name – while driving back from Jersey Zoo with her toddler in tow.
‘I spotted an eye-catching pink mushroom growing on a grass verge,’ she said. ‘After a sharp detour, I found myself looking at something that definitely felt unusual and possibly rare.’
Mrs Shenkin explained: ‘I knew it was one of a group of mushrooms in the genus ‘Russula’ commonly known as Brittlegills, but red/pink Russulas are notoriously tricky to identify since there are many similar species.’
With a background in science and conservation, Mrs Shenkin has always been passionate about nature but she only become interested in mycology – the study of fungi – last October.
She explained: ‘I’m autistic and [have] ADHD, so I have a really strong pattern recognition ability; I can absorb scientific knowledge easily and I can focus intensely on my special interests.
‘I’m passionate about mushrooms because they are both fascinating and absolutely everywhere once you start looking.
‘It’s like a treasure hunt but the treasures are everywhere all year round; you just have to look and suddenly you find something exciting and new to learn about.’
Having previously worked as a zookeeper, lab technician, aquarist and a science teacher, Mrs Shenkin knows her way around a microscope. But the process to formally identify a rare mushroom can be complex.
Mrs Shenkin said: ‘To identify Russulas you have to do quite a few standard tests, things like: what they smell like, do they bruise a different colour, what colour are the spores, using a microscope to look at the shape of the spores etc.
‘After I did all of those tests I posted about what I’d found on a specialist Facebook group. The British expert Geoffrey Kibby (whose books I had been reading) was excited, thinking it was a rare mushroom he’d never seen.
‘I had a lot of help from Dutch and Italian mycologists who knew I’d found something very rare straight away.
‘In the end I had to use special chemicals to stain and look at special cells in the gills and cap of the mushroom. Once I had found them I had to measure them to determine which species I was looking at.’
By a ‘complex process of elimination’, Mrs Shenkin eventually ruled out all of the other possibilities and confirmed that her discovery was in fact the rare Russula stenocystidiata.
Mr Kibby, who is a research associate at Kew Gardens, confirmed there were no previous records of this species in the British Isles.
Mrs Shenkin said: ‘I’ve been on a high since I first found it and as I got closer and closer to confirming it I was so excited about getting to record a new species here.
‘If you’re a science geek, then this is like Christmas coming early.’
The next step is for Mrs Shenkin to send dried samples of the specimen and all of her data to the Kew Gardens fungarium manager, who will catalogue the record and possibly use the samples to determine the DNA fingerprint of this species for future use.
