Mycological Tree Assessment (MTA)

[Fungus]

is it edible?

 

It is, if you take all the sand grains enclosed in the FB's cavities and an appointment with the dentist the next day for granted .

[Fungus]

I understand the concept of 'panic fruiting' and in the case of the Sparassis it is obvious. But how can a FB be recognised as 'panic fruiting'. Or can you only tell if you have the whole picture (tree+fungus+environment).

 

Yes and no. Sometimes you have to assess and monitor the tree-fungus-environment "picture" over some years, as f.i. often is the case with annual biotrophic parasitic macrofungi, such as Meripilus giganteus or Pholiota squarrosa (photo 1) fruiting with lots of and/or extremely big FB's, in which case you also have to assess and monitor the panic fruiting of the tree characterized by lots of smaller and/or sterile seeds and the decline or vanishing of tree species specific ectomycorrhizal macrofungi.

And with perennial bracket fungi you can often recognize panic fruiting by receding fertile tube layers (see second photo of Phellinus ignarius on Salix) or by (partially) sterile more or less bulbous FB's (see third photo of Daedalea quercina on Quercus rubra).

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[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

G. pfeifferi- showing retraction, both beeches, both with viable healthy crowns, I know what I feel this is telling me but what are your thoughts Gerrit before I make a fool of myself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fungus]

G. pfeifferi- showing retraction, both beeches, both with viable healthy crowns, I know what I feel this is telling me but what are your thoughts

 

Tony,

To produce new tube layers on the perennial brackets, the mycelium of G. pfeiferii has to decompose energy rich cellulose (a sugar polymere) from the dead wood of the central column of the beech and convert it into chitine (another sugar polymere), the building material of which the cell walls of fungi (mainly) are made. That is why fungi are closer related to insects then to (green) plants capable of producing energy (sugars) through fotosynthesis by and for themselves and the tree species specific ecosystem, to which the fungi (and insects) connect.

For this, the mycelium only needs some hyphae connected to the living tissue of the tree to tap some energy from for the converting process, so in this respect, the mycelium for the greater part acts as a saprotrophic without doing much damage to the cambium, which explains the still viable healthy crown.

Once the available cellulose taken from the tree diminishes, the mycelium can no longer form complete new tube layers, so the layers start to receed or retract, which is a symptom of panic fruiting because of the lack of energy provided by the tree's inside.

[Tom Joye]

Yes and no. Sometimes you have to assess and monitor the tree-fungus-environment "picture" over some years, as f.i. often is the case with annual biotrophic parasitic macrofungi, such as Meripilus giganteus or Pholiota squarrosa (photo 1) fruiting with lots of and/or extremely big FB's, in which case you also have to assess and monitor the panic fruiting of the tree characterized by lots of smaller and/or sterile seeds and the decline or vanishing of tree species specific ectomycorrhizal macrofungi.

And with perennial bracket fungi you can often recognize panic fruiting by receding fertile tube layers (see second photo of Phellinus ignarius on Salix) or by (partially) sterile more or less bulbous FB's (see third photo of Daedalea quercina on Quercus rubra).

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Thank you Gerrit,

 

I posted this picture before, but that was before you were on this forum, so I'll re-try Could this bulbous, deformed fruiting body be a form of panic fruiting (possibly of Laetiporus)? It was on the same Q. rubra stem as the big Laetiporus FB, some 50 cm away. It is a standing monolith dead stem, probably cut when the tree was declining, before it was dead (no more exact info). It does not exactly fit the picture, because I guess the Laetiporus can continue digesting the wood saprotrophically, so no reason for panic fruiting. Enlighten me , just trying to get more insight here...

 

Cheers,

Tom

[Fungus]

And with perennial bracket fungi you can often recognize panic fruiting by receding fertile tube layers

 

Another example of this phenomenon, a perennial bracket of Fomes fomentarius, of which the last formed tube layer was already receding before the birch broke and fell down because of the intensive white rot of the central wood column, leaving not enough cellulose behind to restart the mycelium to produce new layers.

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Edited August 17, 2011 by Fungus

[Fungus]

Could this bulbous, deformed fruiting body be a form of panic fruiting (possibly of Laetiporus)? It was on the same Q. rubra stem as the big Laetiporus FB, some 50 cm away. It is a standing monolith dead stem, probably cut when the tree was declining, before it was dead (no more exact info). It does not exactly fit the picture, because I guess the Laetiporus can continue digesting the wood saprotrophically, so no reason for panic fruiting.

 

Tom,

I think the first FB's are either partially a sterile or an anamorph reproductive form (Ceriomyces aurantiacus), mostly originating from diminishing local "food supply" for the mycelium and the second photo shows normal fruiting because of local abundance of cellulose to "consume" by the part of the mycelium present in another compartiment of wood of the same tree.

[Tom Joye]

Tom,

I think the first FB's are either partially a sterile or an anamorph reproductive form (Ceriomyces aurantiacus), mostly originating from diminishing local "food supply" for the mycelium and the second photo shows normal fruiting because of local abundance of cellulose to "consume" by the part of the mycelium present in another compartiment of wood of the same tree.

 

Thanks a lot, never heard of this anamorph form of Laetiporus before. Now found your picture on Soortenbank.nl (use that website a lot as a valuable source of info, too bad for the rest of you that it's in Dutch )

[David Humphries]

Now found your picture on Soortenbank.nl (use that website a lot as a valuable source of info, too bad for the rest of you that it's in Dutch )

 

google translate does a fine job of it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Tom Joye]

google translate does a fine job of it

 

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you're very creative when it comes to finding info on our fungi-friends, aren't you