Another Ustulina/K. deusta on Syc.

[Fungus]

I was under the impression that only Armillaria has plates of melanine, and that those of, for example, Kretzchmaria consist of other compounds?

 

Sloth,

Correct, in this case with just one species' mycelium present, the black lines are not of a fungal origin, but produced by the tree itself as a barrier to keep the spreading of the hyphae and the soft rot restricted to "walled off" parts of the heart wood and prevent them from using the starch rich radial rays as a "highway" to get to the living tissues and then to the outside for fruiting.

[treeseer]

Sloth,

Correct, in this case with just one species' mycelium present, the black lines are not of a fungal origin, but produced by the tree itself as a barrier to keep the spreading of the hyphae and the soft rot restricted to "walled off" parts of the heart wood and prevent them from using the starch rich radial rays as a "highway" to get to the living tissues and then to the outside for fruiting.

 

An excellent description--I wish American college students had English that good!

 

I've always found it quite hard to differentiate those black lines; arbogenic or mycogenic?

[David Kaley]

I stand corrected, I'm still learning to understand the effects of fungi upon trees. However, I am quite sure that in other cases K.deusta does produce demarcation lines comprised of melanin in the method that I described.

[Fungus]

I am quite sure that in other cases K.deusta does produce demarcation lines comprised of melanin in the method that I described.

 

David,

Only Armillaria species produce the acid resistent melanin surronding the hyphae inside their rhizomorphs or covering up hyphae under melanin plaques. Black lines "fencing" territories of different fungi are comprised of fungicides or antibiotics produced by the fungi that "stain" the wood, leaving behind "trenches" from which a territorial battle took place that could not be won by one of the mycelia involved in the fight. You can regard them as "territorial pissings" marking the territoria of cats and dogs.

[David Kaley]

Hi Fungus, I got this information from Schwarze, Engels and Mattheck (2001): fungal strategies of wood decay in trees, who claim that K.deusta does convert the substance of the host into melanin. Is this info wrong? I'm not trying to argue here, but I always hoped this was a reliable source.

[Fungus]

I got this information from Schwarze, Engels and Mattheck (2001): fungal strategies of wood decay in trees, who claim that K.deusta does convert the substance of the host into melanin. Is this info wrong? I'm not trying to argue here, but I always hoped this was a reliable source.

 

David,

Schwartze (1999) just repeated what Butin (1996) claimed to have assessed without properly retesting and reproducing Butin's supposed findings himself and that's why under U. deusta melanin was no longer mentioned in Weber & Mattheck (2001), the book of which I edited the manuscript before it was published, after Schwartze left Karlsruhe.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Fungus

[David Kaley]

Thanks Gerrit, looks like you've hit the nail on the head there