The Latin name for King Alfred's cakes is Daldinia concentrica.
For fire-making, look out for thistledown and King Alfred's cakes (aka crampball fungus, which grows only on ash trees), both of which make fantastic tinder.
Its common name of King Alfred's cakes comes from an incident where the King burned some cakes and the fungus resembled these burned cakes.
Peter James takes us on a tour through the enthralling world of scarlet elf cups, death caps and King Alfred's cakes.
So it seems that there is a little story attached to the fungus Crimplene identifies as Daldinia concentrica or King Alfred's cakes.