the body language of Decay, The Delights of D

[Fungus]

With fungi, we will always see un usual behaviour

 

Tony,

Are you sure you have photograped Pholiota aurivella, because in The Netherlands, at the base of birches, you can also can find a look-a-like like the common Pholiota alnicola and at 50 centimetres to 2 metres up on the trunk another look-a-like, the very rare P. heteroclita ?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Tony,

Are you sure you have photograped Pholiota aurivella, because in The Netherlands, at the base of birches, you can also can find a look-a-like like the common Pholiota alnicola and at 50 centimetres to 2 metres up on the trunk another look-a-like, the very rare P. heteroclita ?

 

Im confident, very much so, and not the first time ive seen them at base of trees:001_smile: But I will have some scopes soon enough, then confidence wont be an issue! its the only way forward it seems. if these are not aurivella's i give up without a scope.

 

[Fungus]

Im confident, very much so, and not the first time ive seen them at base of trees:001_smile: But I will have some scopes soon enough, then confidence wont be an issue! its the only way forward it seems. if these are not aurivella's i give up without a scope.

 

Tony,

So what names would you give to the following two Pholiota's ?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Tony,

So what names would you give to the following two Pholiota's ?

 

you sneaky dog! these are both slightly different to what i would typicaly expect, and i will return the gesture too!

 

i am going to hate your return answer arent I! but im game, i want to learn.

 

P squarosus but they are strange, almost spikey rather than shaggy

 

P. aurivella BUT the fibers at the cap edge dont fit but the colours are ok and there is some aurivella scaling on the peak of the cap.

 

bet they turn out to be both squarosus!

[Fungus]

you sneaky dog! these are both slightly different to what i would typicaly expect, and i will return the gesture too!

i am going to hate your return answer arent I! but im game, i want to learn.

P squarosus but they are strange, almost spikey rather than shaggy

P. aurivella BUT the fibers at the cap edge dont fit but the colours are ok and there is some aurivella scaling on the peak of the cap.

bet they turn out to be both squarosus!

 

Tony,

Helas, both times wrong.

The first one is Pholiota squarrosoides, an extremely rare species from very old forests with beech and abies, i.e. the Bavarian Biosphere Reserve and National Forest of Zwieseler Waldhaus (Germany), of which the photo of Hericium flagellum also originated.

And the second one is Pholiota limonella, an also extremely rare species living on fallen trunks of very old poplars, only once found by me in The Netherlands.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Tony,

Helas, both times wrong.

The first one is Pholiota squarrosoides, an extremely rare species from very old forests with beech and abies, i.e. the Bavarian Biosphere Reserve and National Forest of Zwieseler Waldhaus (Germany), of which the photo of Hericium flagellum also originated.

And the second one is Pholiota limonella, an also extremely rare species living on fallen trunks of very old poplars, only once found by me in The Netherlands.

 

But both pholiotas and both as i said not strictly kosher, I knew they was suspect!

 

good game, that wood you speak of is one place i would very much like to see in my lifetime, along with the Bialowieza forest ukraine/poland:thumbup1:

[Matthew Arnold]

Do you recon this Beech has Polyporus spp in the root system? No sign of die back in crown. As seen in the pics the root butresses are excentuated.

[Fungus]

Do you recon this Beech has Polyporus spp in the root system? No sign of die back in crown. As seen in the pics the root butresses are excentuated.

 

Matt,

Polyporus species do not attack the root system of trees.

To me this looks like a phenomenon not associated with fungal activity, but occuring when varying groundwater levels force a beech to "push" itself up and superficially grow far out to avoid contact of the base of the trunk with groundwater.

Beeches are trees with a superficial root system avoiding groundwater contact and almost totally depending on rainwater for their water supply, so that is why the main roots grow outward up to or beyond the outer crown projection collecting the water dripping down from the leaves of the outer crown branches and the fine roots develop just underneath the forest floor to uptake rainwater immediately after falling on its surface.

Beech leaves then, are shaped in such a way, that they are capable of holding back rainwater for a while, which drips down slowly from the tips.

When the roots on one side of a beech (or Acer) can not reach water anymore, because the surface of an alongside path has hardend so much no rain gets through, a beech on that side sideways develops "strangulating" roots crossing the other roots forming water basins close to the base to collect rainwater running down from the trunk (first photo).

The second photo shows the base of a beech around which an old spruce has developed two roots reaching out over 6 metres to the base of the beech and surrounding it to collect the rainwater coming down from the trunk of the beech.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Fungus

[RobArb]

is that the same as stem girdling roots?

[Fungus]

is that the same as stem girdling roots?

 

Rob,

If with "stem girdling roots", strangulating roots shutting off the transport of water and nutrients in a tree by itselves (f.i. Ulmus) or by a neighbouring tree (photo 2) are meant, the answer is yes. And if the tree roots creating a water basin (first picture) for its own benefit is meant, the answer is no.