Fungus

Melanine plaque?

See my album on : rhizomorphs of Armillaria.

Quite an impressive example of several fungi working on bringing down and recycling the oak.

IMO a tree like this should as long as possible be preserved as a mycological momument and as an example of the interaction between a tree and wood degrading fungi for the public.

What are peoples views on managing ancient woodlands. I help look after 45 acres of woodland which has been managed a long time ago for mining prop and first world war timber but since then its been neglected. We want to improve it and encourage people to use it and we want to impove biodiversity. We also want to get a small fire wood income from if we can. There's lots of oak and some elm and lots of syc and holy. We're gettin advice about woodland management plans but thought it would be a nice topic of conversation.

If you're aiming at improving and enhancing biodiversity, you're focus should be on :

- preservation of the ectomycorrhizal oaks with the most extensive tree species specific ecosystem of all indigenous European broadleaved tree species,

- on all of the older elms, that have a far more limited, though specialized tree species specific ecosystem,

- and on the long run on elimination of the sycamores, that are associated with generalistic endomycorrhizal microfungi and have almost no tree species specific ecosystem at all.

i have done a bit of research and Pseudomonas bacteria on laural causes leaf damage holes etc.. and can lead to cankers is this correct? i could not see any on the tree just the ooze and coral spot

For the bacterial canker causing Pseudomonas syringae pv mors-prunorum oozing gum from the trunk, you'll have to look for this:

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The remaining branch was severly compromised by the attendance of both the brown rotting Laetiporus & Fistulina (first shot) Today I noted the white rotting Ganoderma lucidum fruiting either side of the last remaining live butress root, with also Xylaria polymorpha & Bjerkandera adusta at the base of the tree in the same area.

Quite an impressive example of several fungi working on bringing down and recycling the oak.

cherry laural ... Phytophthora ... has white gummy ooze about 6inches up on main them. it also has coral spot all over but i presume this came afterwards. other plants near by are starting to show signs of die back, another laural and a rhododendron.

Whitish to pinkish oozing of Prunus is caused by a Pseudomonas bacteria, blackish oozing by a Phytophthora species. And the coral spot fungus probably is Nectria cinnabarina.

Anyone heard of the 19 year old Belgian singer/songwriter[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL4I1xrs6F8]Selah Sue[/ame]with a voice reminding me of Amy Winehouse and Beth Gibbons of Portishead ?

Would I be right to think that with regards to M. galericulata it has little arboricultural significance?

Correct, although M. galericulata decomposes exposed dead wood with polyaromatic hydrocarbons, it's a just a supercially white rot causing saprotroph, that has little effect on the stability of the tree.

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I've just stumbled across this thread whilst searching for something else

Craig,

You should be glad you did, because otherwise you wouldn't have been told, that fungi with whitish gills and white spores growing at this height on oak are Mycena's, in this case M. galericulata.

Pleurotus

= P. ostreatus

Hypholoma olivaceotinctum

David,

I think you're right, as this definitely is an indigenous species on coniferous wood in New Zealand.

1. Lichens break down rock, using carboxylic acid i believe so wood should prove neigh bother!

2. lichens when numerous cause cambium to become damp and even loose in the long term.

1. Lichens colonizing dead wood live on nutrients that are set free by mycelia of fungi decomposing the wood with enzymes, lichens don't have at their disposal. Besides, the thalli also filter whatever hits their surface transported by air or rain for nutrients.

2. Lichens living on bark feed on whatever nutrients are on the surface of the bark without penetrating living tissues, so how can the cambium become damp and even loose from lichens living on the tree ?

Looks like Pleurotus to me.

: Pleurotus ostreatus.

Over the last 2 years I noticed this Lichen growing on some of the timber. I've no idea what it's called or whether or not it's harmful to the timber.

I don't like the look of it much and after having scraped some off a wee while ago it seems to be still there in the wood. Should I be worried about it and if so what if anything can be used to treat it?

Al,

Lichens only use the wood as a substrate to "cling" or to attach themselfs to without having penetrating roots, i.e. not to feed on wood by decomposing it, so because they won't damage your house, you should refrain from "treatment" to kill them. They have, just as your green roofing, become part of the natural ecosytem of your house.

Are the increases attributed to mostly smooth barked species? These seem to be often the last trees species that (bark) dry after heavy rain.

David,

Yes, IME they are and especially those smooth barked species with a normally neutral, or at least not mainly with negative ions loaded bark surface.

that would make sense if it wasn't for the fact that the three examples are all from the lowest points of the site. The trees at the top of the Heath (appear) to be no more at risk than those lower down the hill

In The Netherlands, the increasing number of strikes, especially on beech, is associated with air pollution (nitrification), because of which the ionisation and with it the electrical conduct capabilities of the (smooth) bark changes, with the sooner attraction of lightning as a result. See : lightning struck beeches.

is the spectacular rustgill

Gymnopilus junonius (rusty brown spores) is almost completely restricted to deciduous trees and extremely rare on coniferous trees, so if it has white spores, this probably is a Tricholomopsis species, maybe T. decora.

Just read this from "forestpathology.com"........

A. borealis - Rhizomorph branching dichotomous

A. calvescens - Rhizomorph branching monopodial

A. cepistipes - Rhizomorphs abundant; branching monopodial

A. gallica - Rhizomorphs large (up to 5 mm diameter) and abundant; branching monopodial

A. luteobubalina - Rhizomorphs absent or sparse

A. ostoyae - Rhizomorphs usually thin, delicate and sparse; branching dichotomous.

A. mellea - (Nothing listed about rhizomorphs) ???

Are you 100 % convinced, that this information is microscopically checked by identifying all of the 6 or 7 species while fruiting in combination with rhizomorphs attached to the mycelium and/or the bases of the FB's ?

There is talk of the Flamulina velutips being broken up into subspecies, the thinking being that those found on differing hosts may be individual strains.

The boys on WAB must be diagnosed as splitters then, who seem to be getting in power again after the lumpers have ruled for several years .

That may be a correct generalisation of the natural world, but "urban, non climate specific" trees & fungi, have not had that association. I think the instances of strikes in the human neighboorhood may be on the increase. This may not be such a 'natural' event in general terms.

David,

Is this also true for urban trees in cities with high rise buildings or just for smaller towns with lots of open spaces, like it's the case in The Netherlands ?

Looks myxo to me.

Not a myxo, but a "soft tissue" Aphyllophorales, maybe a species from the genus Phlebia or one of its look-a-likes.

Don't think I've specifically come across that myxomycete before. But wondering if what I may have thought was Fuligo (on occasion) might have been Badhamia instead. I guess the thin strand that the fb is held from, is the give away ?

The only thing B. utricularis has in common with Fuligo species is the colour of the plasmodium, the aethalia of Fuligo septica and the sporangia of Badhamia utricularis are both different in colour and in shape.

It was suggested that mellea has very thin rhizomorphs whilst thicker ones were suggested in this case to be gallica, but that may be site specific. It would be interesting to get confirmation. As I recall, the suggestion was that galica is often present around healthy trees waiting for opportunities.

Al & David,

1. Armillaria species can not be distinguised by the diameter of their rhizomorphs.

2. That must be waiting for dead wood to become exposed and available then, because Armillaria lutea (= A. gallica/bulbosa) is considered to be a saprotrophic species.

Have you ever come across any of the myxomycetes on lightning damage exposed sapwood ?

No, not directly on the exposed sapwood, but on (the mycelium of) fungi growing on/from it, for instance Badhamia utricularis on Stereum species.

do you happen to know if as it is so fibrous, the bark contains more cellulose:less suberin than other coniferous species?

No, I don't, in my research I'm mainly focussing on the tree species specific ecosystems of originally indigenous European tree species.