Decay images

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I've been following the demise of a large, privately owned horse chestnut local to me over the past few years. It's had an ever increasing amound of necrotic bark, dieback and broken out limbs and G. resinaceum at it's base. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of this sad tree, but it should have been felled years ago.

 

Finally, the owners saw sense and had it removed today . I managed to get a couple of pics of the associated decay in the stump as I was passing:

 

janey, are we certain its not g. australe?

 

I see more than a years growth?

[janey]

janey, are we certain its not g. australe?

 

 

I was until you asked...

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I was until you asked...

 

its australe janey resinaceum drops off after sporalating, this ones on its second to third years growth. also has the yellow band of a fresh forming australe, the lumpy surface.

 

its a pretty text book australe and i know you hate me now!

[janey]

its a pretty text book australe and i know you hate me now!

 

Excuse me a moment while I go and gently bang my head against something very hard...

[Fungus]

1. I am not sure it does the fungus any favors to exclude the possibility of it fruiting higher ... David made the point that you will see the dryadeus between buttress roots ... Or that the FB can easily be some distance from the food source I suppose.

2. It maybe of interest to note that in relation to trees and decay, the moisture factor was an issue that seemed worthy of emphasis. David L obviously convinced that the dryadeus is pumping moisture out of the tree/substrate...Whilst this would seem to make good sense, and tie in with the point about moisture and anaerobic conditions being detrimental to fungal lifecycles, I am not sure why this process wouldn't be seen in a more widespread sense were it being actively used as a strategy by fungi.

 

1. Annually fruiting biotrophic parasitic Inonotus species each have different strategies of decay (white and soft rot) in different tree species.

I. hispidus on Platanus, f.i., prefers to develop its mycelium in the starch rich radial rays, which retract and shorten because of this, causing the bark and cambium locally to develop a "dip", out of which the brackets later emerge, while its strategy in Fraxinus, Ulmus and Malus is spreading its mycelium equally over a much larger area of the trunk at about half way of where the sugars are produced or in branches to be even closer to the "food source" to collect its "energy" from and that is why I. hispidus never is found at the base or lower half of the trunk.

Inonotus dryadeus, however, prefers the base of the trunk, where it is as close as possible to the part of the tree where the assimilation process and the exchange of sugars and nutrients between the photo-energy producing leaves and the nutrients and minerals delivering ectomycorrhizal symbionts takes place, the spot where the richest mix from both sources is made and can easily put a "tap" on to produce bigger yearly brackets then I. hispidus does/can, because of its "poorer" energy source or substrate. And that accounts for the much more detrimental effects of I. dryadeus compared to those of I. hispidus.

2. Pumping moisture out of the living parts of the tree and temporarely storing and excreting (guttation) it in/from the fruitbodies is a strategy to locally highten the concentration of enzymes (and/or toxics) in the parts of the tree the moisture is withdrawn from, thus optimizing the decay (and killing) process. It is not unique for Inonotus species, this strategy and the phenomenon of guttation f.i. is also found in Fomitopsis pinicola (photo 1), Phellinus pouzarii (photo 2) and some Postia or Tyromyces species.

Edited May 12, 2011 by Fungus

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

1. Annually fruiting biotrophic parasitic Inonotus species each have different strategies of decay (white and soft rot) in different tree species.

I. hispidus on Platanus, f.i., prefers to develop its mycelium in the starch rich radial rays, which retract and shorten because of this, causing the bark and cambium locally to develop a "dip", out of which the brackets later emerge, while its strategy in Fraxinus, Ulmus and Malus is spreading its mycelium equally over a much larger area of the trunk at about half way of where the sugars are produced or in branches to be even closer to the "food source" to collect its "energy" from and that is why I. hispidus never is found at the base or lower half of the trunk.

Inonotus dryadeus, however, prefers the base of the trunk, where it is as close as possible to the part of the tree where the assimilation process and the exchange of sugars and nutrients between the photo-energy producing leaves and the nutrients and minerals delivering ectomycorrhizal symbionts takes place, the spot where the richest mix from both sources is made and can easily put a "tap" on to produce bigger yearly brackets then I. hispidus does/can, because of its "poorer" energy source or substrate. And that accounts for the much more detrimental effects of I. dryadeus compared to those of I. hispidus.

2. Pumping moisture out of the living parts of the tree and temporarely storing and excreting (guttation) it in/from the fruitbodies is a strategy to locally highten the concentration of enzymes (and/or toxics) in the parts of the tree the moisture is withdrawn from, thus optimizing the decay (and killing) process. It is not unique for Inonotus species, this strategy and the phenomenon of guttation f.i. is also found in Fomitopsis pinicola (photo 1), Phellinus pouzarii (photo 2) and some Postia or Tyromyces species.

 

and Laeti, amoung many others

[Fungus]

Despite a lack of fruit body to confirm I am 100% certain this decay is the work of Polyporus squamosus, the tree species Populus nigra the mode of entry, wound, and the aggressive white rot of the entire ripewood region and distinct mycelial matt within the pith core.

 

Tony,

You could also consider Pholiota populnea to be the cause of the intensive white rot as shown in the first and last photo, of which the mycelium does not (often) fruit on a standing poplar, but only/mostly produces fruitbodies after the tree has been felled or fallen down and especially fruits from the vertical saw cut surface of the trunk once it is laying on the ground with soil contact. So you sometimes have to wait a while for the villain to show its ugly heads/caps .

[Fungus]

and Laeti, amoung many others ...

 

... such as Fistulina hepatica.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Tony,

You could also consider Pholiota populnea to be the cause of the intensive white rot as shown in the first and last photo, of which the mycelium does not (often) fruit on a standing poplar, but only/mostly produces fruitbodies after the tree has been felled or fallen down and especially fruits from the vertical saw cut surface of the trunk once it is laying on the ground with soil contact. So you sometimes have to wait a while for the villain to show its ugly heads/caps .

 

its a rare fungi here gerrit, ive been wanting to see it for years:001_smile:

[David Humphries]

Here's what I have from the banks of the Basque vaults Tony.

 

 

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