ID help please - brackets on turkey oak

[Rob Marsh]

Hi, I'd really appreciate any help identifying these brackets. Found today on a mature turkey oak in west Wales... both sets of brackets were at the base of the same tree, the smaller ones (showing the clear white underside) were around the other side of the tree from the large ones. The large, brain-like masses are pretty tough but no hard crust on them. All look fairly recent. 

 

...after some digging around online I'm wondering if it could be Confistulina stage of Fistulina hepatica - could that be right? No red bleeding when broken, and it's mid-November which is a bit late for beefsteaks isn't it?!

 

Any help appreciated, thanks!

Rob

 

 

[David Humphries]

Have you got any images of the flesh and tube layer(s) 

 

Not sure what it is to be honest, but don’t think it’s either the anamorph or the teleomorph of Fistulina. 

 

last couple of images remind me of Heterobasidion, but the other shots don’t quite add up.

[AJStrees]

5 hours ago, Rob Marsh said:

Hi, I'd really appreciate any help identifying these brackets. Found today on a mature turkey oak in west Wales... both sets of brackets were at the base of the same tree, the smaller ones (showing the clear white underside) were around the other side of the tree from the large ones. The large, brain-like masses are pretty tough but no hard crust on them. All look fairly recent. 

 

...after some digging around online I'm wondering if it could be Confistulina stage of Fistulina hepatica - could that be right? No red bleeding when broken, and it's mid-November which is a bit late for beefsteaks isn't it?!

 

Any help appreciated, thanks!

Rob

 

 

looks to me like two different types of fungi, the big mass look like old mushroom type fungi of some sort and the bracket on the other side is something else. As David said, good find, but photos of the tubes and other parts may give better understanding of what the fungi are. 

 

[Rob Marsh]

12 hours ago, David Humphries said:

Have you got any images of the flesh and tube layer(s) 

 

Not sure what it is to be honest, but don’t think it’s either the anamorph or the teleomorph of Fistulina. 

 

last couple of images remind me of Heterobasidion, but the other shots don’t quite add up.

Thanks David & AJ for your comments.

 

Here is the best close-up I've got of the big mass at the moment - it wasn't really showing much in the way of pore surface, but I was going to go back in a few days to see how it'd developed. While I'm there I'll cut a slice through it & will post some photos of the results (will prob. be Saturday as I'm elsewhere till then). 

 

Entirely possible the last two pictures are a different species... I did wonder about Heterobasidion annosum,  it was the closest thing I could find to it in the Guy Watson book...  although the brackets didn't have the white leading-edge or the pinkish tinge he describes. 

 

I hadn't considered the mass being remains of mushroom-type fungi, that's a thought... 

 

For context: it's a prominent, much-loved tree, overhanging (literally) a building... I will be back with more photos in a few days, as you can imagine I really need to figure out what this thing is!

Thanks again. 

[trotter251]

Just putting it out there, could the large mass of fungi be old Meripilus before it completely breaks down??? 

[Rob Marsh]

14 hours ago, trotter251 said:

Just putting it out there, could the large mass of fungi be old Meripilus before it completely breaks down??? 

Possibly! I find Merip. tends to go flatter, blacker and more stalkey, if you see what I mean, and most of the Merip I've seen in west Wales this year was out about two months ago... but I wouldn't rule it out, and it is in a relatively dry / exposed location so maybe it's reacting differently. 

 

A local tree officer has just suggested Abortiporus biennis which is a new one for me & looks possible. At the moment the main suspects are that, Merip, and  Heterobasidion annosum. (None of which is great news for the tree, sadly)

 

I'm going back at the weekend to see how it's developed (or decayed) and take a few slices through it to get some better pictures / pore structure. I'll put the results up on here. 

[Rob Marsh]

On 20/11/2019 at 18:32, trotter251 said:

Just putting it out there, could the large mass of fungi be old Meripilus before it completely breaks down??? 

 

On 19/11/2019 at 22:23, AJStrees said:

looks to me like two different types of fungi, the big mass look like old mushroom type fungi of some sort and the bracket on the other side is something else. As David said, good find, but photos of the tubes and other parts may give better understanding of what the fungi are. 

 

 

On 19/11/2019 at 20:47, David Humphries said:

Have you got any images of the flesh and tube layer(s) 

 

Not sure what it is to be honest, but don’t think it’s either the anamorph or the teleomorph of Fistulina. 

 

last couple of images remind me of Heterobasidion, but the other shots don’t quite add up.

Thanks everyone for earlier comments - as promised I've re-visited the tree and taken some additional photos, also cut through the fungi & taken some pics of that... see below

 

I think we're probably dealing with 2x different species here, so to avoid confusion the pics are labelled 1 or 2. Both fungi are growing at the base of stem of the same mature Turkey oak. (Photos taken of chunks back in the office are in the style of those murder weapon photos you get in the papers, not entirely sure why other than I imagine it looks a bit more scientific.)

 

No. 1 is the large brain-like masses, rubbery texture, tough but not crusty. Appears to be decomposing slightly since earlier in the week, now showing obvious slug damage. Nice mushroomy smell to it when cut, no bleeding or particular colour change / bruising. My best guess on this one so far is Blushing Rosette (Arbortiporous biennis). Anyone got any comments on that because it's a new one to me?  Thanks to Mike Higgins from Pembs NPA for suggesting it. I don't currently think it's Merip or Ganoderma resinaceum incidentally, I see these quite a bit and it doesn't look right to me.  

 

No. 2 is more fragile, smaller, not so rubbery, and I imagine will deteriorate quicker in the continuing rain. Open to suggestions, my best guess so far is Heterobasidion annosum. 

 

Thanks again everyone, this forum is totally marvellous and I really appreciate the help. Now I'm on it I'll hopefully start chipping in some answers when I know them...