Monmouth: Mushroom found so rare you can't know where it is

Chloe Newcomb Hodgetts said it is very likely she will never come across the mushroom again in her lifetime

A forager has found a mushroom so rare that she will not share its location for fear of it being damaged.

Chloe Newcomb Hodgetts, from Monmouthshire, believes she has found a rare tiered tooth fungus (Hericium cirrhatum).

The 41-year-old described it as a "once-in-a-lifetime find".

Mark Steer of the Glamorgan Fungus Group said it was "fairly likely" Chloe's photographs showed a tiered tooth fungus.

He added: "This is a species which seems to be fairly uncommon with only 25 records that I can find for the whole of Wales."

Chloe owns a business where she takes people out on foraging walks and teaches them about the food in nature.

The day of her big find, she was scouting good spots ahead of a mushroom forage in the Wye Valley.

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"I walked past this beautiful fallen beech log and I saw two very potent medicinal species, so I was excited about finding them," she said.

"I marked that spot in my mind and thought 'I'll definitely bring my foragers past this'.

"But as I walked away from that log, something in the forest told me 'go back, you've missed something.'"

Chloe Newcomb Hodgetts found the mushrooms on a beech tree

When she turned around to check the log one more time, she made "the wonderful find".

"I was incredibly surprised, I did a little happy dance and probably let out a couple of 'oh my Gods' to myself," she added.

"I knew right away that this was a special find and I just sat and admired it for a few seconds because it's very likely that I will never come across that again in my lifetime."

Chloe Newcomb Hodgetts says she has been back to see the mushroom multiple times since finding it

After taking pictures, Chloe sought advice for what to do next.

"It is edible, it's said to taste like crab or lobster, but I was asked by mycology experts to please leave it where it is, which is why I haven't given away the location.

"Anybody keen on mushrooms would flock straight there to have a look and it would get damaged. Because it's so rare, it's important that it's left in its natural habitat."

Prof Lynne Boddy from Cardiff University agreed that the mushroom was "probably" hericium cirrhatum, adding that it was "quite rare in the UK".

She also encouraged anyone who found the mushroom to not pick it.

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