Fungus

David, Hard to say, I would have to cut the tree at that level to be sure, but I think they are not connected because they are over 40 centimetres apart.

... or the first time fruiting after it has "dived under" for some years completely decaying the base of the tree at and/or below ground level before surfacing again.

Ben, This could be a Ceriporia, Trechispora or a Skeletocutis species or it could be one of the many forms of Schizopora paradoxa : microscope.

Strangely enough, they still have not felled this oak with on old perennial bracket of Phellinus robustus, which is at the point of breaking and will probably demolish a small bridge leading to a house when it fails. I think, they have this far overlooked it, because it is at a height of about 8 metres on the part of the trunk close to the lower crown branches. ---

David, Here's an example of activating dormant buds on the sunny side of the trunk by an oak. The tree also has a bark canker to the left. ---

Today, I monitored the old and veteran oaks of the lanes and parks surrounding the castle of Ampsen. To my surprise one veteran oak of a group of originally ten over 250 years old oaks (photo 1) had fallen without an outside warning of the total destruction of the major roots by an (still) unknow white rotter (photo 2). While making pictures, I noticed another oak had been felled and totally removed leaving only a stump behind with an age conform central cavity (photo 3) and an entrance wound with healty wood and hoof or ovary shaped compensatory growth at and just above groundlevel (photo 4), where a small Ganoderma australe bracket had been present before. The felling of this tree had been done without proper assessment, i.e. for no valid reason at all . One of the remaining oaks for many years has a bark necrosis on the trunk at about two meters height with an old FB of Fistulina hepatica hanging from it (photo 5).

Not an oak with a face, but an oak with a wide open heart . Notice the wound sealing (topsin) from the old days ? ---

Caused by what pathogen (latin name) ?

Pete, Did you check the soil and trunk's bases for Armillaria rhizomorphsspreading through root-root contact and/or were black oozing spots present on the trunks ?

1. Yes, I always do the field test to avoid unnecessary taking of a sample to identify microscopically. 2. At least 1.000 x. In this case, no. 3. No, it's not an option to do these inoculation experiments with/in living trees.

Marco, It does .

1. I assume, Lonsdale will have suggested, that the waxy yellow layer unterneath the top layer of G. pfeifferi should react to striking a match close to it. 2. No use in trying to identify either of the three perennial Ganoderma species by photo's alone : microscope. 3. All results on Ganoderma lipsiense and G. australe published by Schwarze are from in vitro experiments on/in inoculated dead wood without the in vivo present antagonists, so the data can't be generalised to the in situ situation and/or used for interpretation of tomography in the field.

Nick, 1. That's probably, because it's on older FB already starting to dry out. 2. Just as David suggested, yes, I do.

I assume you mean Ganoderma lipsiense (= G. applanatum), a perennial necrotrophic parasite, that predominantly in beeches causes an intensive white rot with selective delignification of the heart wood.

What species was this one before it tickled you to "mutilate" it : Psathyrella multipedata ?

Marco, Your hypothesis is contradictory to beeches having very superficial root systems, that mainly stretch out to the dripping zones just outside the crown projection, where the finer, with ectomycorrhizal pioneers associated roots uptake water and nutrients, i.e. the products of decomposition of litter "shared" with neighbouring beeches by saprotrophic soil mycoflora and fauna. Besides, beech leaves are shaped in such a way, that they can hold small volumes of water, that is drop after drop dripping from the sharp point at the tip of the leave (see photo) on to other leaves and in that way is transported in the direction of the dripping zone. And that's why you can find shelter from a mild rain shower without getting wet under a beech and not under an oak . ---

Marco, Great documentation . A question though. Is it in your experience valid to say, that in general tomography of (brown rotted) coniferous trees, like this Pinus, is more reliable and better interpretable than it is of most (brown or white rotted) deciduous trees, because of the differing structures of the wood ?

... as can be seen in the beech in the first photo, that has activated dormant buds on the lower trunk at the side of the lamppost to "collect" the light coming from above with its foliage at night. After heaving been reduced at the opposite side, the old beech in the second photo has directed all its branches to the 12 o'clock side and bended down the lower branches to protect the trunk against sun scald. ---

Nick, No, the pores turn reddish brown when you bruise them or scratch them with your fingernails.

Could be, could also be just fluids coming up from the roots via the xylem turning orange when exposed to oxygen, like - as before mentioned - can be seen in damaged or cut Betula, Prunus and Acer.

And at my Quercus robur & Armillaria ostoyae thread and my rhizomorphs of Armillaria album.

Correct, it's in the epidermal tissues including the phloem, which causes the cambium to die and blackening foamy exudates to flux down and out from the phloem through leakage spots in the bark (and bark shedding), but I was asking where the orange exudate comes from.

I said, both pink species : Mycena pura or M. rosea.

David, Are you sure ? I thought it was a dead horse, the log I mean .

Or M.r. ?