King Alfred’s cakes

Daldinia concentrica: known as King Alfred’s cakes or coal fungus growing on one of the reserve’s dead ash trees.

The name refers to the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the Great, who burned the cakes that he was left to watch; and these fungi do look like little burnt bread rolls. The specimens in the photograph are at an early stage of their growth; they will become charcoal black and woody when they are mature.

In the past, they were collected and dried to be used as firelighters, which must have been the origin of the name coal fungus. A recent archaeological excavation of a Neolithic settlement in Spain discovered coal fungus alongside other species of fungi already known to have been used as tinder, so it is possible that people have been using this species as a firelighter for thousands of years.

Cut in half, the fungus has clear concentric, silvery grey and black growth rings inside. Just as in the cross section of a tree trunk, each ring is a year’s growth and the species is named for them: concentrica.

They are common and widespread but they are not as obvious or as large as some bracket fungus and can be quite difficult to spot. Look carefully in the wooded parts of the park and send us photographs if you find them.