Fungus ID and help required

[Fabian Van Berkel]

Hey guys was needing some help on identifying a fungus I came across. Situated at in London at the base of a monkey puzzle, lower branches are turning brown and the tree has a slight lean away from the side of the fungus which may indicate that its affecting the roots. Unsure if it's always had the lean. I attatched some photos of some cuts I made at the start of the crown break, approx 8m up. Any information would be appreciated, cheers.

[Alinicoll]

Is that not just the basal flare? I can't see any fungus. There doesn't seem to be any bleeding which they usually do quite spectacularly when stressed. Monkey puzzles don't like root stress, that can cause problems. A picture of context might help, shade can also cause lower branches to die.

[Paul Cleaver]

4 hours ago, Alinicoll said:

Is that not just the basal flare? I can't see any fungus. There doesn't seem to be any bleeding which they usually do quite spectacularly when stressed. Monkey puzzles don't like root stress, that can cause problems. A picture of context might help, shade can also cause lower branches to die.

I Agree though I had to study it a bit. I can see why Fabian thought it was a fungus - it does look like a desiccated fungus at first glance.

[AJStrees]

Initially I thought desiccated and dried slime mould but probably just the colouring in the photo. Agree looks like flare.

[Fabian Van Berkel]

Ah okay. Thanks for the help guys. Can't say I'm much of an expert on these sort of things but I'll do some research and educate myself on basal flairs. Cheers.