Wisley 2

Wisleyaa. A record breaking fungus at the foot of an aesculus turbinata, aka the Japanese horse chestnut. The tree looked healthy enough, so clearly the fungus knew something that we did not.

And wikipedia knew something that I did not, that is to say that the Jōmon people of Japan used to eat the nuts, around the time our Lord was living. As far as I am aware, the Celtic people did not used to eat the sort that grew here. Presumably, unlike the Jōmon, they did not discover the trick of leaching out the poisons.