David Humphries

Difficult to say for sure without seeing the stipe? .

Very common here Guy, the Fungal Record Data Base of Britain and Ireland has close to 3000 records of it where it its Genus is named Gymnupus and not Collybia. Surprised to hear/read that you don't have it Stateside. The books that I referenced at the beginning only have it recorded on Quercus and Castanea, but I've found it on the above and Carpinus & Fagus also. .

I believe it is Kevin. Both the failed oak and the standing oak we excavated today had decay in the bark, cork, phloem and cambium that presented as an orange/tan degraded volume with large holes which appeared filled with white mycelium. This would seem to be typical of simultaneous type rot. The decay appeared not to be in the core of the roots. If we get a chance we'll slice a root to show the decayed cross sections. .

although one of these buttresses had a significant girdling root, (which possibly has an effect on the vascular flow & impared this root) the decay below ground in the sectors we excavated was pretty extensive. .

this was just an opportunity to have a look at a few of the buttress roots around a portion of the root crown. .

& a closer look at a known standing (reduced) oak, that we had seen fruit bodies on. So we got the airspade out....... .

Perhaps fruit bodies were not present at the time of failure in examples where wind blow had occured & that the primary agent was given as 'other' Leading to there being few records of the occurence .

The recent strong winds toppled a full canopied veteran oak that we were aware of having C. fusipes associated .

Having looked at a couple of recent significant failures that had the fruit bodies associated with them, I decided to have a look through the books. There are probably further references to consult but the following were at hand.... Diagnosis of ill-health in trees; Strouts & Winter Fungi on Trees (an arborists field guide); Watson & Green Principals of Tree Hazard Assessment and Management; Lonsdale Tree Diseases and Disorders; Butin The one thing the majority of these books have in common is to suggest that little is know of the decay type & that wind blown failures were rare. S&W states that it rots the sapwood & kills roots of Quercus & Castanea. W&G states that it affects roots of Quercus. Lonsdale states that impares root function on Quercus. Butin states that it damages roots, bark & can cause a butt rot. Gerrit Keiser (Dutch mycologist) believes the decay to be simultaneous white rot. .

The 'spindle shank' is a fungal species that has little recorded in text about it. .

Funny !?! I'd be concerned mate, that 'trunk's girth looks a little thin, no ? .

The sulphur tuft - Hypholoma fasiculare .

As pointed out in the UKTC thread, here's Alliarias thread regarding the same tree/fungi from August http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/77106-id-please.html .

Mark have you any better context images (panned out) to see where this fruit body is in relation to the trunk of the tree? I agree with the above comments that it looks like Laetiporus sulphureus but if its fruiting (intact) on the floor (ie, off roots) then I would think Meripilus giganteus could be a suspect. .

C. micaceus is a saprophytic fungi so the mycelium will only be feeding off the dysfunctional material available. All aging trees will have roots that become dysfunctional at some point (old tap roots etc....) which get replaced by new roots. It may be worth considering that there may be a primary pathogen (of this trees roots) present, that is not fruiting when you've visited, but could be the reason for the Coprinus ongoing presence. .

that's a very difficult question to answer. Vital Beech trees can (and do) survive for decades with the association and exist whilst keeping the decay in check putting down new roots. But if the tree is stressed, then Meripilus can take a strong pathogenic course and lead to the desiccation of its anchor roots and end in the wind throw of the entire tree. .

The giant polypore - Meripilus giganteus The associated white rot could be a risk to the roots of the tree .

Tut tut, you could have left at least another 100mm of dead wood there Would be interesting to see this tree again in a year or two, in terms of whether the reduction aids vitality (or whether it's in terminal decline) .

Were the annual fruit bodies of the first three fairly desiccated or relatively fresh? Last one would be Phellinus pomaceus Which resources were you able to use for the open book test? .

Out of interest, what were the four fungal examples? Good luck with the outcome .

its now got to the stage where chainsaws were not required to remove it ! base has been left in situ with the remainder being added to a habitat pile in a more appropriate location .

a lime with Ganoderma applanatum & Kretzschmaria deusta that we've been bringing down in stages over the last 6 or 7 years. .

a quick lop & top..... ....and the fung start to degrade the arrisings .

and others where the roots are dense and sound solid (probably where the decay is less aggresive or at an earlier stage) .