David Humphries

Ha ! good one .

Don't think it would be, as the clustered bracket is usually, almost exclusively, associated with beech (handful of odd host associations on FRDBI) plus these look to large and light in colour. See where you're going with the tiers though. .

So I then enquired of the all knowing Rhea..........quite obviously applanatum my good man, he replied .

Can see why the doubt. Bit of a shame you couldn't get a top shot to rule out the saddle via the presence of squamules.............You need a drone squamosus doesn't quite do it for me, and a bit of an odd form for Laetiporus, though I have seen similar turn out to chicken after a climb. Not conclusive either way I'm afraid. .

So I decided to ask them directly..........do you happen to know which of the Ganoderma species this would be? Blank stares from the lot of em .

Cool day, great shots Josh Particularly that last one .

Well that's taken the thread to a new level Though that image has been doing the rounds........a very long time .

nylon rope apparantly, the 'how to make it' vid is pretty cool too .

[ame] [/ame] We should hook Reg and this guy together .

Not really rare Andrew, I would say more like infrequent. Doesn't tend to fruit every year. About 400 records of it on the Fungal Record Data base of Britain & Ireland. British Fungi - record details Has a wide hostrange. We find it at 5 or 6 separate sites where I work, mainly on hornbeam but also found it associating with the roots of oak & ash. A lot more common on the continent and causes quite severe root and basal decay over there from how I undersatnd it. .

Lucidum of the Ganoderma complex......... .

Looks like Birch Sawfly - Cimbex femoratus .

Yes this is the spindle shank - C. fusipes I believe this species is prodominantly saprophytic in nature but may have the ability to be weakly parasitic and attack root wood as a secondary agent in stressed trees. A few interesting leads in this older thread...... http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/80314-collybia-fusipes-observations.html .

"Bark inclusion failure with evidence of natural bracing" This below has been published by Duncan a couple of days ago (post recent seminars) and includes images of a failed bark included junction that he saw earlier this week, in a Norway maple. He does appear to suggest in the first paragraph that "natural braces in trees ...........cause the formation of bark-included junctions" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bark-inclusion-failure-evidence-natural-bracing-duncan-slater?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-network_publishes-69-null&midToken=AQHVWCyiSSmb5w&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1cPIbVW3BXHTo1 Not entirely sure if the link will work for people not signed on to LinkedIn .

Yep Phaeolus, .

Somewhere deep inside my cloth sack brain, I seem to recall a conversation with Martyn Ainsworth (relatively recently) around the subject of all the major brown heart rotters on oak (Buglosporus, Fistulina and Laetiporus) all having the ability to form asexual spores on what we would call young developing or aborted basidiomata. I think he was suggesting that if the colonised wood becomes a poor host (like from being sun baked due to exposure, for example) then the mycelium can retreat/become inactive. Their chlamydospores (which are pretty thick walled) are able to withstand desiccation and can then get back on track with reprodipuction and recolonise areas within the substrate. Something like that..........I think Any ways, back to that lovely Volveriella .

Still no sign of the mycorrhizal fungi coming out to play, but the last couple of days have been pretty fruitfull on the Heath of Hampstead..... Up first a fine layering of Polyporus squamosus brackets bursting forth from above this birch canker Meripulus giganteus erupting from the base of a number of beech trees The spectacular Silky Rosegill (Volveriella bombycina) going through its second fruiting of the season on this turkey oak stump and more anamorphic Confistulina fruiting beside its more usual teleomorphic version of Fistulina hepatica (About a dozen brackets popping out from amongst these roots) .

The heavily pregnant females can only fly about 1km per year Jules, so at that rate you should be fine for about another 662 years by my calculations That is of course unless some numb nut imports them in to Scotland from infected parts of the south of the U.K. or Europe I'd like to think we've learnt that particular lesson.........but I'm not actually convinced of that. .

Time will tell Mick, If left unmanaged the OPM population explode and would be on every oak tree in and around London in a relatively short time scale. This would likley lead to GP surgeries dealing with an increase in respiratory and rash cases. Not withstanding the debate that can be had on doing something rather than nothing, we (like many land owners/managers) have been issued with Statutory Plant Health Notices which we have to comply with. There has been recorded success with management of OPM in isolated areas like Pangbourne which the FC specifically targeted. As far as I'm aware after having a significant number of nests in 2011 they haven't had any nests reported in that particular target area during the period 2013-2016 This seems to suggest they have gotten on top of it, so there may be hope of being able to manage areas with oak populations. So perhaps........ .

Always interesting looking back at older threads, helps evaluate what you think you know and what you actually do. Been a while since any posts here on Arbtalk about OPM, the reality is that it's spreading ever further each year and the costs to manage nest removal and spraying increases also. Reported as far north of the Capital as Watford this year, as far south as Mole Valley and moving eastwards into and beyond Newham & Greenwich. Although there are no caterpillars to seen processing up and down oak trunks at this time of year it's worth remembering that the adults have now pupated into moths and have had their jiggy jiggy time. Females will be laying egg plaques on twigs. As such, Arbs working in and around London should really be checking any oak material they are removing to make sure they are not spreading the eggs further afield. Good guidance on handling oak material here ......... http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Good_practice_guide_Handling_OPM_material_04-2014.pdf/$FILE/Good_practice_guide_Handling_OPM_material_04-2014.pdf Picture of egg plaques for reference from the FC webpage .

The union is fairly included but I think Dr Slater would be pleased to read that 7 years on from starting this thread the natural braces are still doing a good job at holding it all together. .

Our local host range on the Heath (and around Hampstead in general) are; Hornbeam, Beech, Sorbus, London plane, Ash, Horse chestnut, Malus, Red - Pendunculate - Pin & Turkey Oak we've also seen it on Holm oak and lime further afield. Would be interesting to see who's seen other tree hosts and where in the country those are. British Fungi - record details .....good thread Chris .

Technically coronets Paul, but there probably was one or two fractures out of view in these images. .

Observations of growth rate over a near 2 month period from back in 2010 Host here is Turkey oak (the one that you saw with the developing Volveriella bombycina on at the weekend) Before it failed, the tree also had colonisation by Fomes fomentarius, Laetiporus sulphureus and one of the perenial species from the Ganoderma complex (likely to be australe) 1st image taken 28/07/2010 2nd taken 02/08/2010 3rd taken 17/08/2010 4th taken 24/08/2010 5th taken 16/09/2010 Flesh, tubes and pore shots .

Hi Steve, Any specific reasons for 'recently monolithed beech' ? Happy for you to use these if you think they are of any use. Tree was taken down and monolithed in 2008 due to Meripilus and Chondrostereum. It's still there (inspected once a year) providing good habitat for saproxylic species. [ame] [/ame] Let me know if there's any other images from the YouTube collage above that may be of use. .