61

ReferenceWHALLEY, A J S and WATLING, R (1984) An unusual habitat for Daldinia concentrica.

Bulletin of the British Mycological Society 18, 126-127.

A NOTE ON THE BLEWIT

Tony BakerMews Cottage, Main Street, Winster, Matlock, Derbyshire

The name 'blewit' is commonly applied to two mushrooms, the wood blewit,Lepista nuda, and the field blewit, Lepista saeva, but where does the name comefrom? The earliest reference that the OED comes up with is from 1830, althoughpreviously Sowerby had used the word in his Coloured Figures of EnglishFungi, 1797-1803: 'This species is sometimes sold at Covent Garden marketunder the name Blewits for making ketchup'. It must presumably have beenfamiliar prior to this.

In his Edible Fungi, 1948, Ramsbottom mentions that a blue dye was atone time extracted from the blewit in the Berwick-upon-Tweed region. SinceSowerby writes in the preface to his work that 'Some fungi I am persuadedwould assist in dyeing', I thought that this might be a clue to the word's origin.I wrote to the public librarian in Berwick who kindly sent me two articles fromthe journal of the local Naturalists' Club. The first, by A W Bartlett, appearedin 1934: in it he states that 'the dyers of Berwick are willing to purchase largequantities of the fungus for the purpose of extracting a blue dye'. Bartlettevidently supplied Ramsbottom with his authority.

The second article was published in 1951 and concerned a correspondencewhich brought to light the fact that 'there never had been a dyeing industry inBerwick within the memory of anyone now living there'. Commenting on this,Ramsbottom wrote to say: 'I think that there can be no doubt the the Tricho-loma mushroom was never used to extract the colour from the stem. I think itwas a local story, which A W Bartlett heard and believed. You will recollectthat I heard it from a local innkeeper at (?) Boulmer and that the servants at ahotel at Alnmouth knew of the story. In spite of the fact that a chemical friendof mine disputed the possibility, I was prepared to accept it on the evidence ...For me, in future, if I mention the dye business, it will be as a local story. '

As far as I know he never did mention the dye trade again, which leavesthe origin of 'blewit' as open a question as ever. Can anyone offer a suggestion?

ReferenceHistory of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club (1934) Vol.XXVIII,Part 3,245-6; (1951)

Vol.XXXlI, Part 2, 129-30.

IS THERE AN ASSOCIATION BETWEENBOLETUS LIGNICOLA AND PHAEOLUS SCHWEINITZII?

R P BrownGlan-yr-Afon, Marli, Abergele, Clwyd

Since 1981 Boletus lignicola and Phaeolus schweinitzii have been recordedfruiting together at Bodelwyddan in North Wales. The site is a plantation ofabout two hundred and fifty Sitka spruce trees (Picea sitchensis). Ten trees inthe plantation have been found to be infested with P. schweinitzii. Seven of