the body language of Decay, The Delights of D

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

hey tony......good to have you back.....yes richmond......."its pheifferi.....no its phellinus.......well if this one is phellinus......then that one has to be phellinus.....which means that one is pheifferi.

 

Have your disc here.....got to pop in the post.

 

Yes, you got me in one of those thinking aloud modes eliminating cues and clues till Im happy with what Im truly seeing, mad aint i!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I dont think there is a better tree for so verbally teaching us what crucial roles fungi play in thier lives, Pholiota squarosus is found on many trees, beech is another fairly common host, but the Ash is IMO its natural ally. Trees have cleary evolved advantiguos relationships with certain fungi, Every long lived tree will have its pruning/retrenching/recycling associates, these are frequently displayed in the physical forms of the ancients. This Ash is no exception and one of the best examples of retrenchment by hispidus, and root structure modification/recycling by pholiota squarosus.

 

The wide under mined roots and hollow centre are in ash most usualy caused by P squarrosus, nearly all ancient ash have these allys included in there lives and communicated in their body languages.

 

It isn't the fungi that cause the demise of a tree, its a trees old age and senescence that allow their allies to take a greater hold, for a healthy vital tree can, as with this ash live a very much longer and more productive life WITH them than without. A trees relationship with its fungal allies is a balancing game, when the tree is vital the balance is maintained. One day we may know why a tree declines and the fungi take over, but one things for certain, these fungi, they are NOT the demons we have been taught to assume.

 

 

 

 

[David Humphries]

The wide under mined roots and hollow centre are in ash most usualy caused by P squarrosus, nearly all ancient ash have these allys included in there lives and communicated in their body languages.

 

 

I'd toss Perenniporia in to that mix as well.

 

Obviously not in all circumstances.

 

 

Good visuals

 

 

 

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[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I'd toss Perenniporia in to that mix as well.

 

Obviously not in all circumstances.

 

 

Good visuals

 

 

 

.

 

I could not agree more about the perenni, you got in thier before i had a chance, got some gorgeous examples to add in here later.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

This first image represents a bit of a quandary for me, and will require some further investigation, The kinks/buckles are more IME associated with I.cuticularis aka the clustered bracket, however, the black psuedosclerotial plating and fractures is much more what I would associate with Auricularia messenterica aka the tripe. This may be one of those succsesional fungal situations, the quetion is, what comes first? time will tell, and youll be the first to know the outcome of my further interests in this intersting and chatty tree.

 

Oh this really is a delightful subject!

 

 

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

This is an image youll see on page 153 of "in the face of failure" C. mattheck

 

The second image shows the cellulose hose pipes that are left when selective white rot has degrade the lignin chimneys.

 

Selective white rot produces very pronounced "concertina" symptoms this is because the lignin that offers stiffness to the woody plants has been completely dissolved by fungal enzymes. In this case most likely inonotus cuticularis, but others like phelinus igniarius may also be responsible, especially in this location ( Burnham Beeches)

 

Inonotus cuticularis, and phelinus igniarius are the most dominant stem rots within the beeches at Burnham.

 

[Matthew Arnold]

Ive posted some of these pics before i know. Three are Common Oaks. The other is a Lombary Poplar. All have flared root butresses. Only one of them has a confirmed fungal issue but obviously the other three have had something in them in the past. Three are healthy, one is not. The plan over the next few years is to monitor them and reduce if/when neccesary.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

your oaks appear to all have dryadeus, although one looks like it may have had colybia, image six, is this ones crown represented in the left image below it? if yes then I can almost guarantee colybia, probably got in via grazing damage too.

 

your poplar is almost certainly pholiota squarosus, any crown symptoms, like fine tip dead?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

When swelling occurs very low and evenly on aok (without trunk fluting, it is often resinaceum, which is a very different language to that of dryadues

[Matthew Arnold]

your oaks appear to all have dryadeus, although one looks like it may have had colybia, image six, is this ones crown represented in the left image below it? if yes then I can almost guarantee colybia, probably got in via grazing damage too.

 

your poplar is almost certainly pholiota squarosus, any crown symptoms, like fine tip dead?

 

Yep. The site up until about the 1970s was used for grazing by cattle which would explain how the colybia in.

 

Nope. No tips dead on this one. We do have one in gillingham which is even bigger and has dead tips espcially near the top. It is also hollow and has even more pronounced butresses. It is also well within falling distance of houses and a newly installed pedestrian bridge. So we are keeping a very very close eye on it. Its right next to a constantly shifting river bank and has an active badger sett around it.