Fungus

1. I don't see it often either. 2. They do on the one hand, but on the other hand they have become very important even to the extent of becoming a refugium for some very rare Quercus specific ectomycorrhizal Hydnaceae, which are no longer present as associates of Q. robur because of nitrification .

1. Not a Peziza, but Tarzetta (= Pustularia) catinus s.l. (including T. cupularis). 2. I'm interested in with what tree species, because it is nowadays assumed, that both species are potential or facultative ectomycorrhizal symbionts.

Even better : G. castaneus it is.

Another beech from park Sonsbeek in Arnhem (NL). ---

David, 1. Russula olivaceoviolascens (= R. atrorubens) or R. fragilis if it has serrate edged gills. 2. Or L. melaneum ? 3. Strange combination of the colours of cap and stipe and the white pores : very young B. edulis or L. quercinum ?

... and to the folds or wrinkles in the zone between the fertile top and the top of the "stipe" and at the base of the "stem". In Dutch it's called Plooivoetstuifzwam (= wrinkled footed puff ball). So very convincing : Calvatia excipuliformis.

David, Quite big for a "little hen". In Dutch, it's called Eikhaas (oak's hare), because in foggy wether or twilight it is supposed to look like a crouched hare sitting at the tree base. In The Netherlands, it's getting more and more common on Q. rubra with far more detrimental effects on the stability of the tree (windthrow) and it's also found on Fagus, Aesculus and Castanea. I'll add three of my photo's : 1. Fruiting from a stump after the Q. robur was felled. 2. Fruiting at the base of the trunk (major root) of a Q. robur with an older cluster of FB's. 3. Together with Ganoderma resinaceum, fruiting at the base of the trunk of a Q. robur.

1. As David suggested : Russula nigricans. 2. . 3. Panic fruiting perennial Ganoderma species, probably G. australe (David ). 4. Not a Lepiota (white spores, white gills), but Agaricus silvaticus (brown spores, pink gills).

Graham, 1. Laetiporus sulphureus. 2. On dead coniferous wood and with yellow-brown spores on yellow gills ? If so, Gymnopilus sapineus. 3. Perennial Ganoderma species, G. lipsiense or G. australe. 4. Probably Daedaleopsis confragosa. 5. As David suggested : Inonotus radiatus.

Ben, Such prolific fruiting with such big FB's needs more than just the remains of a bit of dead wood left behind in the soil : - because to produce this volume of reproductive organs, the mycelium needs about 120 % volume of the sugar polymer cellulose, which is about 70-80 % of the wood, to convert to 100 % volume of the sugar polymer chitin, of which the hyphae of the mycelium and cells of the FB's are (partially) formed, - so there has to be a connection of the mycelium to still present living tissue of main and/or adventitious roots, that have a storage of energy, that stays behind in the sapwood and cambium of the roots and is no longer transported to the tree and its ectomycorrhizal symbionts, - although I have sometimes seen ectomycorrhizal macrofungi fruit from remaining roots long after the tree was felled and removed and/or the stump was grinded and even a few times together with FB's of Meripilus giganteus surfacing from the same roots.

John, Not Sarcoscypha (= ascomycete), but Hygrocybe coccinea, a Waxcap with gills.

This probably is the necrotrophic parasitic Ganoderma lipsiense, because it is still fruiting from a dead tree (beech ?) stump.

You'll have to make sure, that the black ooze is not urine/excrements from bats, before you fell the tree. Besides, poplars naturally have wet wood caused by bacteria to keep fungi out of the central wood column of the tree.

On the HC thread, all we heard was you not being willing nor able to recognize, that your "fell or retain" dichotomy assumption of standard practice in Europe (including the U.K.) was a product of your rich fantasy .

Xerocomus (= Boletus) badius, of which is known, that it is, just as other facultative saprotrophic ectomycorrhizal symbionts, such as Paxillus involutus, Scleroderma citrinum and Thelephora terrestris, temporarely capable of fruiting form deadwood, although for boletes, other than Buchwaldoboletus (= Pulveroboletus) species, there is still the question of whether they also need to be in contact with living roots (of seedlings) of trees and only decompose dead wood to protect the tree from being depleted of so much energy for producing the FB's, that the young tree would die.

... by hyphae/mycelium covered with a black melanin layer.

This is H. sublateritium.

It could, but only after the assessment of the damage done to the stability of the tree is done properly and depending on the decay of the buttresses, major roots and/or trunk base, it could be, that a less hard pruning of the crown would suffice.

Mixing vinegar and wine will change the taste for the better ? As Ben said, milk will probably be a better neutralizing fluid, although the milk might turn bad and become sour too .

Ben, Did the gardner eat it ? I has an extremely vinegar acid taste, so it's not for nothing that's it's called "poor man's beefsteak".

Andrew, 1. It's just a definition agreed upon by the international "community" of mycologists and (forest) ecologists. 2. And you can add air and water pollution (acidification, nitrification), salt, herbicides, fungicides, mechanical and natural damage (storm, lightning, forest fires) and lots of other more or less influential factors to the list. 3. I'm not going to present the long list of valid scientific research done on the subject . 4. Bare in mind, that all tree species specific organisms, whether they are parasitic, saprotrophic, co-existing or symbiotic, depending on the tree species specific life cycles of the trees, have a long history of co-evolution or synchronization with and specialization on the tree species, with the most in tree species dependend organisms rich ecosystem of Quercus robur at the top of the list of endemic European trees, during which saprotrophic macrofungi have evolved to ectomycorrhizal symbionts, which actually are in a state of balanced parasitism with (the roots of) the tree. Besides, there are several "evolutionary transitial" macrofungi still "having their cake and eating it", such as the ectendomycorrhizal fungi, macrofungi such as Pleurotus ostreatus, Hohenbuehelia species and the anamorphs of Orbilia species catching and devouring nematodes and Paxillus involutus, Scleroderma citrinum and Thelephora terrestris, ectomycorrhizal symbionts, which have not lost the capacity to decompose dead wood during periods of lacking tree partners to form an association with. 5. The healthy functioning and the defensive system of a tree and its roots depend highly to completely on the water and nutrients transported to the tree roots by the mycelia of mycorrhizal symbionts and the input of the delivered "chemicals" (phosphorous, nitrogen, minerals, spore elements) into the assimilation processor in the trunk's base of the tree. 6. Just looking at the effects of drought from the angle of the stategies of the parasitic and/or saprotrophic macrofungi limites the scope too much to fully understand the dynamics of tree species specific ecosystems and their soil food webs, including the mycorrhizal fungi. Read my post on the effects of climate and rainfall on the fruiting of ectomycorrhizal macrofungi and some of my posts on the Tree Species Specific Ecosystem under Mycological Tree Assessment.

Mechanical damage, because the birch was standing close to one of the corners of three pathways in an often visited and intensively "managed" park in Amsterdam.

There's no bleeding, because the photo is a digital copy of a slide, the quality is not that good.

David, In The Netherlands not unusual, as you can see in my photo of rather dark FB's of M. giganteus, because they had passed their freshness date.

Sloth, See this post and buy the book with David's pictures .