With tufty mould long enough to give Gandalf a run for his money, there’s a species of mushroom so rare wildlife workers had to cage it off.
The mushroom, known by enthusiasts as hericium erinaceus, has long been compared to a lion’s mane and its species name literally means ‘hedgehog’.
But it’s more popularly known as the bearded tooth fungi and you can easily see why – its 5cm-long spore-producing spines that trail down dead trees.
Bearded tooth fungi are legally-protected and so coveted by collectors that when volunteers at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall found it they caged it.
Coordinator Toby Davies said a volunteer found the football-sized fungi in a ‘bug hotel’ called Buggingham Palace last week.