Imagine how surprised I was at discovering the Dark-centred Hebeloma (Hebeloma mesophaeum) in the depths of winter, especially this one in January 2010. The Guardian newspaper on 6 Jan has successfully predicted the coldest UK winter in 30 years.

Well, in this case it was 4th January and snow was evenly spread across Leicestershire – Martinshaw Woods to be precise. These are great woods with such a mix of tree species. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of mushrooms but I did find plenty of ‘Jelly Ear’ and the above mentioned fungus.

The Dark-centred Hebeloma (Hebeloma mesophaeum) also known as the Pine Mesophaeum grows under conifers and broad leaved trees, but in this case it was conifers, and this may have been the reason it was around at this time of year. I’m only guessing at this, but because there is a certain large chunk in the woods that is just conifer (after freezing my nether regions throughout the rest of the woods) the temperature change walking through them was quite surreal. The heat had risen a good few degrees. No snow had penetrated the canopies above and it felt like you had just walked into another wood at a different time of the year! There seemed to be a very powerful closed-in, greenhouse effect in this part of the woods.

So I can only guess that these were perfect conditions for the Dark-centred Hebeloma (Hebeloma mesophaeum) and they must have been hanging on since late autumn. They were scattered everywhere – dozens and dozens of them. Some people might consider them quite dull in appearance but I quite like them, even though they are inedible and possibly poisonous (as are most related species).

The mushroom itself has a convex (and slimy) cap and most striking of all is the dark brown centre itself (hence the common name). Young specimens have a cobweb-like veil covering the sinuate gills. The stem is white and sometimes has a faint brown ring zone (remants from the veil). It also has another good identifiable characteristic in which it has a faint smell similar to a raddish!

Scattered accross the pine floor showing the distinctive dark brown centre on the cap