Hypocreopsis rhododendri (Hazel gloves)

This distinctive fingered fungus is an inhabitant of Scotland’s very own rainforest.Temperate rainforest occurs down the extreme western fringe of Britain, Ireland and France, where the influence of the jet stream results in mild winters and extremely wet summers.

In places along this coastline, the soil is too thin and wet and the wind too strong for a tall woodland canopy to form, so instead the woodland is dominated by a tree of lower stature, the hazel.

Hazel has a multi-stemmed habit, and throughout much of Britain it was historically coppiced on rotation. On the west coast of Scotland however, many of the hazel woodlands have never been clear-felled: in fact some are believed to have changed very little in the past 10,000 years.

The oceanic climate, low pollution and long continuity make Atlantic hazel woodlands fantastic habitats for bryophytes and lichenised fungi. To date the woodlands have been little-explored from a mycological perspective, but they are known to be home to the rare and threatened fungus hazel gloves (Hypocreopsis rhododendri).

Hazel gloves is an ascomycete fungus which produces spores in tiny flask-shaped sacs (perithecia), the openings of which are visible as black dots on the surface of the fungus’ orange fingers. The fungus grows on woody stems and typically reaches a diameter of 4-8 cm. It is mainly found on hazel, although it has been found on other trees and shrubs in Atlantic hazel woodland. The scientific name of the fungus (Hypocreopsis rhododendri)stems from the fact that it was once found growing on Rhododendron maximum in the USA: it has not found on rhododendron in the UK.