David Humphries

indubitably .

Been pondering about the name of the prime ministers country retreat and whether it derives from one of the common names of the torminails. Although it would appear that the original house was linked to a position at the 12th century court around the office of Exchequer, there is also however a healthy presence of the trees known as 'Chequers' on the estate. Would be interesting to know what age the oldest ones are. .

Ten tall oak trees "Ten tall oak trees Standing in a line, ‘Warships’ cried king Henry, Then there were nine. Nine tall oak trees Growing strong and strait, ‘Charcoal’ breathed the furnace, Then there were eight. Eight tall oak trees Reaching towards heaven, ‘Sizzle’ spoke the lightening, Then there were seven. Seven tall oak trees Branches leaves and sticks, ‘Firewood’ smiled the merchant, Then there were six. Six tall oak trees Glad to be alive, ‘Barrels’ boomed the brewery, Then there were five. Five tall oak trees Suddenly a roar, ‘Gangway’ screamed the bypass, Then there were four. Four tall oak trees Sighing like the sea, ‘Floorboards’ beamed the builder, Then there were Three. Three tall oak trees Groaning as trees do, ‘Unsafe’ claimed the council, Then there were two. Two tall oak trees Spreading in the sun, ‘Progress’ snarled the bypass, Then there was one. One tall oak tree Wishing it could run, ‘Nuisance’ grumped the farmer, Then there was none. No tall oak trees, Search the fields in vain, Only empty skylines, And the cold, grey, rain." Richard Edwards .

Must of made a racket .

Even reduced that would appear to be a timely removal. Imagine that the garden has lost a fair chunk of biodiversity though, Ganoderma provides a huge habitat range for a wide variety of saproxylics. Any of it stay put? .

Did you not look at the base of the tree then? girdled with the fruiting of Pholiota squarrosa .

Looks mycorrhizal Dean. Any close ups? .

I get your drift Tony regarding the mechanics of the stem failure here, but the cubical brown rot of Phaeolus is described variously by Weber/Mattheck in 'manual of Wood Decays' and again in David Lonsdales 'Principals' as leading to 'Brittle Fracture' Who am I to disagree .

We were thinking about getting a cheeky boost for the mewp earlier today .

Possibly has the white mycelial sheets of Laetiporus in the cracks in that cross section. Armillaria and Letiporus often found on Robinia together. .

4 years on and that Beech above (although reduced) still stands having gone through last weeks storm and now very heavily infected by Ganoderma. the site took a fairly big hit last week 210 trees (so far) were affected by St Jude when it ripped through this part of north London last monday. 25 complete root failures 15 stem fractures the rest are all canopy damaged the below are a few of the failed trees. Sheer stem crack from a buttress & root decayed hungarian oak, Meripilus on beech, shallow rooted beech & Phaeolus within pine .

Steve I personally can't see anything in the shots that looks like Kretzschmaria/Ustulina fruit bodies or the associated decay. The sapwood dysfunction does look like the type of decay I have seen associated with the saprotrophic activity of species like Hypholma fasiculare Although that's just conjecture with out a fuller history. If it is then I would be keen to look at the butresses and associated roots directly below. Just my thoughts. Looking again, the dysfunctional tracts appear to be in the depressions/sinuses either side of the buttress, so there may be no associated dysfunction with that root attached to that buttress? .

Nice .

Giant puffball Calvatia gigantea .

Abortiporus biennis - the Blushing Rosette here on a dead Sorbus, not great shots I don't often see this, anyone else? .

Really poor image must try harder Desicating Pholiota aurivella would be my guess, where abouts? .

Yeah pretty much. only really seen three or four P. s failures though Ryvarden & Gilbertson state "Thin, whittish, resinous mycelial felts are present in shrinkcage cracks" & Butin says the same but adds that the mycelium is "chalky-fluffy" & that the brown-rot has a "smell of turpentine" .

Yes, honey fungus Have you got or seen the Arbtalk fungi App? Suprised you say that you checked out the AA field guide and got no joy. My shots of Armillaria in there are fairly typical and show the predominant features of the species well I think Or even the directory gallery above http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-fungi-24.html .

a close up of the brown rot and associated mycelial felts .

Here from last mondays storm in London, the brittle fracture of the brown rotting Phaeolus schweinitzii – Dyers mazegill Although they look like canine deposits, you can see the desicated remains of the brackets at the base of the tree. .

Armillaria .

Interesting to ponderon which came first where two different species of fungi co-habit. Particularly where there are two different colonising strategies at play. Here in X section from the same trunk as the bracket image, the simultaneous white rot of Fomes fomentarius (top bracket first shot) and the brown rot of Piptoporus betulinus (lower bracket) Not entirely sure on the Fomes, (especially as I heard Lynne Boddy recently talking about how most spores can be found latent within cells of woody plants) but the Pipto is known as a sapwood intact strategist waiting for wounding to occur before initiating its decay .

What side of the tree is the Kretzschmaria infecting and is there a predominant lean to the tree? Whats the occupation of the field? .

That's great, it's like a putting a city amongst the forest rather than putting trees within a city. .

Random place for articles from the press about trees and their environment. I'll kick it off with this short piece about the species range in the Amazonian rain forest. Trees of the Amazon rainforest - in pictures | Environment | theguardian.com .