Beech & Honey fungus thread

[Fungus]

Split beech struggling to stay upright and survive after the melanine covered mycelium of Armillaria mellea has decomposed most of the exposed central wood.

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[Tom Joye]

Split beech struggling to stay upright and survive after the melanine covered mycelium of Armillaria mellea has decomposed most of the exposed central wood.

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Gerrit,

 

I kind of recognize this tree

 

I spent a great time learning from you, I'm still 'digesting' all the info.

 

Cheers,

Tom

[Fungus]

I kind of recognize this tree

 

Tom,

, so then you will recognize these rare bracket fungi from the field trip too.

[David Humphries]

Fagus with large area of cambial dysfunction caused by Armillaria (possibly mellea)

 

Also evidence of both Kretzschmaria duesta & Pholiota sp (not shown)

 

The exposed wood has the distinct remnants of melanine plaque.

 

Deep & high Basal cavity within.

 

Some deadwood & dysfunctional branches within the canopy but seemingly root flutes/canopy association still conected around the root plate where there appears to be no Armillaria evidence.

 

 

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[Peter]

I felled a lovely healthy beech on that site about a year ago, to make way for a new scout hut.

[David Humphries]

I felled a lovely healthy beech on that site about a year ago, to make way for a new scout hut.

 

Do you know what sort of inspection regime they have Peter?

 

I noticed a few concerning things that I should probably make them aware of.

 

 

 

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[Peter]

I am not aware of any routine inspection regime being in place, but I'm not that closely involved with the site, so there may be.

[David Humphries]

I am not aware of any routine inspection regime being in place, but I'm not that closely involved with the site, so there may be.

 

Thanks Peter, I'll contact STC direct.

 

 

 

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[Fungus]

Fagus with large area of cambial dysfunction caused by Armillaria (possibly mellea)

Also evidence of both Kretzschmaria duesta & Pholiota sp (not shown)

The exposed wood has the distinct remnants of melanine plaque. Deep & high Basal cavity within. Some deadwood & dysfunctional branches within the canopy but seemingly root flutes/canopy association still connected around the root plate where there appears to be no Armillaria evidence.

 

David,

 

As you suggested, the large area of cambial dysfunction with superficial white rot by the mycelium covered with melanine plaques is caused by Armillaria mellea s.s. And do you mean P. squarrosa with the Pholiota species you think to be present too ?

By the way, I found some rather unexpected new information on A. mellea. In "Macrofungi associated with oaks of Eastern North America (Binion, et al., 2008), the authors say, that in Eastern Asia : "Armillaria mellea forms a mycorrhizal relationship with the orchid Gastrodia elata" and in The United States "is often parasitized by the Pink gill species Entoloma abortivum."

Edited December 2, 2011 by Fungus

[David Humphries]

David,

 

As you suggested, the large area of cambial dysfunction with superficial white rot by the mycelium covered with melanine plaques is caused by Armillaria mellea s.s. And do you mean P. squarrosa with the Pholiota species you think to be present too ?

By the way, I found some rather unexpected new information on A. mellea. In "Macrofungi associated with oaks of Eastern North America (Binion, et al., 2008), the authors say, that in Eastern Asia : "Armillaria mellea forms a mycorrhizal relationship with the orchid Gastrodia elata" and in The United States "is often parasitized by the Pink gill species Entoloma abortivum."

 

Gerrit, the Pholiota was a little to desicated to get an Id, but was in a crevice between two butresses on the opposite side to where the Armillaria was.

 

These following shots are of the adjacent Copper Beech in the aerial shot of the same Park.

 

(Thanks for sharing the info on the Mycorrhizal potential of Armillaria, very interesting)

 

 

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