The natural phenomenon of bioluminescence is the emission of visible light by living organisms mediated by an enzyme-catalysed (‘luciferase’) reaction of molecular oxygen with a substrate (‘luciferin’). Bioluminescent organisms are diverse and widely distributed in nature, for example bacteria, dinoflagellates, fungi and insects. The luciferases show no homology to each other and the luciferins are also chemically unrelated. Molecular oxygen is the only common feature of bioluminescence reactions, indicating that the luminescent systems in most organisms may have evolved independently (Wilson & Hastings, 1998).

Carrots, irrespective of their origin and whether they have been grown conventionally or organically, almost always harbour spores of Thielaviopsis basicola and T. thielavioides on their surface. Infections become visible as dark green mould patches upon prolonged incubation in polythene bags. These moulds produce beautiful asexual reproductive organs which are described here. We also present the first report of the previously unknown ocurrence of repetitious conidial germination in both species.

We report a two year survey of saprotrophic fungi colonising woodchip mulch at two contrasting sites in Surrey, a formal garden and a roadside planting scheme. Two alien species (Stroparia aurantiaca and Psilocybe cyanescens) occurred at both sites, along with other notable species including Psilocybe percevalii, Agrocybe putaminum and Collybia biformis. Very little fruiting occurred on areas mulched with bark chippings. In the formal garden there was virtually no repeat fruiting in successive years. At the roadside site most species fruited profusely in the first season after deposition, then decreased greatly in numbers in the second year. It is concluded that ornamental woodchips but not bark chippings, can support diverse fungal communities including unusual species although these assemblages are short-lived.

Fungi have provided food for man, primarily in the form of fruit bodies of basidiomycetes and a few ascomycetes, for thousands of years. Similarly, yeasts have provided dietary supplements (e.g. vitamins) in the form of beer and bread. However, it has not been until the last 18 years that a filamentous fungus has been deliberately cultured for use as a primary source of protein for people. This is the filamentous fungus Fusarium venenatum A3/5 (ATCC PTA-2684), which is grown in continuous flow culture to produce mycoprotein, which is sold under the trade name QuornTM in the UK, the USA and at least 8 other European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Based on a mathematical model, using numerical analyses it can be concluded that the tender structure of the common stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus, growing out of hard asphalt road is capable of producing the very powerful force of 1.33 kN/m2, which means that three of these mushrooms can lift approximately 400 kg.

Discovered in the late 19th century, Bordeaux Mixture was the world's first commercially successful fungicide. Among its achievements was the control of potato blight, the disease which had so famously devastated Irish crops earlier in the century. Although from the mid-1930s onward it was largely superseded in European and North Americn agriculture by progressively more sophisticated and expensive organic fungicides, Bordeaux Mixture, a simple mixture of copper sulphate and lime, remains a popular weapon for gardeners (Fig 1) and poorer Third World farmers fighting a range of foliar diseases. Modern formulation has improved its usefulness, there has been a lack of evolution of fungal resistance towards it and, above all, it has remained relatively cheap.

Entomophthoralean fungi cause many of the epizootics in the world's arthropod populations. Most are obligate insect or mite pathogens and thus are not readily cultured (Pel et al, 2001). In contrast, almost all the common Conidiobolus and Basidiobolus species, widespread in litter and soils of the temperate regions, grow on simple media. Easily observed under the microscope, these necrotrophs or specialised saprotrophs of arthropods exemplify many aspects of entomophthoralean biology. They are strongly chitinolytic, proteolytic and lipolytic and they can colonise arthropod cadavers. The violent discharge of conidia so characteristic of entomophthoralean fungi is easily observed and studied in Conidiobolus spp. (Ingold, 1971). This ‘trick’ of shooting off conidia, presumably essential for contacting a passing animal as potential vector and eventual substrate, is also extraordinarily useful to a mycologist for experimentally manipulating these fungi. It allows escape from most other co-occurring microbiota, showering of experimental target arthropods (living and dead) and collection of successive generations of repetitional conidia (Waters & Callaghan, 1999). This last feature allows study of the intriguing alternatives to globose conidia. Such alternatives include, for a few species, capillioconidia able to adhere to nearby arthropods, (cf B. ranarum, Weber & Webster, 1998) and for some, actively discharged elongate conidia (ADEC). Most characteristically, in about 11 species, microconidia can form and discharge from the parent spore (Webster, 1980). These alternative conidial forms are easily missed and may form only from later generations of repetitional conidium development on non-nutritive agar media; particularly when water activity (aw) is slightly lowered by inclusion of sorbitol or glycerol (see Appendix).

A new and highly unusual species of Lachnum Retz(ascomycetes, Hyaloscyphaceae) is described from decaying leaves of Deschampsia caespitosa (L) Beav. collected from Argyll, Scotland.

Endothiella sp. was found associated with witches' broom symptoms of Tibouchina granulosa growing in a stretch of Atlantic rain forest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The fungus was the anamorph of Cryphonectria cubensis the eucalypt canker fungus. Host-range studies were performed involving 40 plant species belonging to 19 families and showed that C. cubensis has a wide potential host-range, concentrated on the Myrtales but including Persea americana (avocado) and Pouteria caimito. These are members respectively of the subclasses Magnoliidae and Dilleniidae, distantly related to plants of the subclass to which both eucalypt and T. granulosa belong (Rosidae). The finding of C. cubensis in balance with a population of a native species at a site isolated and distant from both eucalypt and clove plantations might be regarded as reinforcing the hypothesis of a Neotropical origin for the fungus as opposed to the hypothesis of the fungus being from Oceania and having cloves as its original host. The new alternative hypothesis(of separate origins from endemic hosts in the Neotropics, Africa and Oceania) should nevertheless be also considered.