Cool Sphaeroblast

[RobRainford]

Hi Rob, I have to admit I'd never heard of these things before this thread.

I found quite a lot on some trees today, also alder I think.

Are they common on certain tree species? and what do you think causes them?

Here's my finds today.

 

All beech it seems there, that last one is an alder flower!

 

I see they are common on beech, seen one on oak too. Got a pic somewheres!

[wisewood]

All beech it seems there, that last one is an alder flower!

 

I see they are common on beech, seen one on oak too. Got a pic somewheres!

 

Hi Rob,

they were all alder mate, I took a pic of one of the flowers to look up when I got home.

Out of interest, I found a loose one and it was really light, are the beech and oak ones deceptively light too?

[RobRainford]

Silly phone, looking on a small screen made me think beech. Looking now on a bigger one I can tell its not. Whoops

 

I'm not sure on the weights, only ever seen them attached!

[RobArb]

Yes they are light as it's a different structure compared to the wood of the trunk, there is more air pockets in due to the way it doesn't layer down wood annually, I think:biggrin:

 

Sent from Rob's GalaxySII

[wisewood]

Ha ha fair enough.

I might have to start collecting them, might try carving one.

I'm not condoning harvesting them off live trees but what potential damage would it do to a tree? They fall off naturally don't they, someone asked earlier if they grow to a certain size and then fall off.

Has anyone done any research into these weird things?

[RobArb]

The only real documentation I've got on them is from uni notes, google didn't bring up much and wouldn't know where to start looking in books..

 

Shouldn't think it would cause too much harm pulling them off, but I've been known to be wrong:lol:

 

Sent from Rob's GalaxySII

[wisewood]

The only real documentation I've got on them is from uni notes, google didn't bring up much and wouldn't know where to start looking in books..

 

Shouldn't think it would cause too much harm pulling them off, but I've been known to be wrong:lol:

 

Sent from Rob's GalaxySII

 

The one I got the other day fell off in my hand as I was fiddling with it:blushing:

TBH it was only attached by a thin strip of bark about 1/2" so it probably would have dropped off fairly soon on it's own accord.

Interesting that you say they occur more commonly in woodland, these ones weren't but were the predominant mature trees in the grounds of my local garden centre. Do you think that they are entirely independent to each individual tree or are they connected somehow, spread from tree to tree, spore like viruses or connected as one through root systems?

[wisewood]

Found a monster on a Blackthorn today. The stem is only 14mm in diametre.

 

Wow!

Matt I want it mate

[RobRainford]

The only real documentation I've got on them is from uni notes, google didn't bring up much and wouldn't know where to start looking in books..

 

Shouldn't think it would cause too much harm pulling them off, but I've been known to be wrong:lol:

 

Sent from Rob's GalaxySII

 

Give them a wiggle, if it moves, it'll probably come off easily.

 

I wouldn't go hacking them off though unless you knew you could!