Fungus

I'm not going to repeat myself over and over again on the proper investigative and diagnostic methods, since my earlier attempts to inform you on the subject were answered with, that "it would also be better to have world peace and a chicken in every pot".

So you still think, you can ascertain or exclude whether the oak has a bacterial infection, is suffering from SOD (Phytophthora cf. ramorum), has its living tissues invested with rhizomorphs of a parasitic Armillaria species, or is having symptoms of AOD, from just looking at some pictures and asking what the ooze smells like and you on top of that already know what treatment is needed without a proper and definite diagnosis ? How about having a high colonic yourself instead of recommending it to "intestines".

Would I use unreliable records for my encyclopaedia and CD-rom ? And would I accept research data and records of others without personal assessment and documentation of their findings ?

Other then for most Ramaria species, there no clear evidence, that Clavulina species are ectomycorrhizal. There is no obligatory association with trees, as the mycelium can fruit in environments without trees near or present.

Macrolepiota procera is a common saprotrophic mushroom in unmanured or sparsely manured grasslands and roadsides, in parks and gardens and in broad-leaved and mixed woods on poor soil.

1/2/3. Clavulina coralloides : saprotrophic, no association with Castanea. 4. Russula species, if under beech, maybe R. mairei. 5/6. Collybia dryophila.

1. Only true for Q. robur (and Q. petrea), not for Q. rubra, on/in which' roots and buttresses G. frondosa can do its detrimental job without competition of I. dryadeus and/or F. hepatica. 2. .

Photo's 6-9 : Lactarius blennius (white milk, beech) Photo's 10/11 : Amanita ceciliae ! Photo's 12/13 : Inocybe species Photo's 14-17 : Flammulina fennae ! Photo 18 : Hebeloma species, H. crustuliniforme ? Photo 19-21 : Psathyrella species, P. prona ? Photo 22 : Scleroderma verrucosum Photo 23-26 : Russula betularum Photo 27/28 : Volvariella species (with salmon pinkish spores) ?

Tony, Compliments on the great documentation . To add some info on G. frondosa, until recently it was considered to be a biotrophic parasitic annual bracket fungus, that only decomposed the major roots and buttresses without undermining the central heart wood at and underneath groundlevel of the trunk base, because it was thought the mycelium just invaded the trunk base superficially to "travel" around the base to reach the buttress of a new root. In The Netherlands, it is most feared for its short term detrimental effects on Q. rubra (danger of windthrow). After discovery of the canker (tumor) development inhibiting grifolan, Dutch researchres tried to make the mycelium fruit from dead oakwood in a laboratory situation, which initially failed. The Chinese have meanwhile succeeded in developing a method with which it can be mass produced from dead wood. So the question now would be, is G. frondosa a biotrophic or necrotrophic parasite and how much damage does it do to the central heartwood of the trunk's base. As the thermo images only show superficial activity at the trunk base, a "look" at the inside would also be needed to further assess the decomposition of wood by the mycelium of G. frondosa to produce this prolific (panic) fruiting from, and/or whether the suggested competition with I. dryadeus is (co-)responsible for the panic fruiting (too).

This morning, I monitored all the macrofungi associating with or on oaks (and birches) in this woodland and some surrounding forests, but there was no sign of bark necrosis typical of Fistulina, nor were any FB's around.

Tony, No, Pholiota lucifera, in The Netherlands only found on wet trunks or buried branches of Salix at the high-water mark of rivers.

Could be, I saw this oak today for the first time, so I can't look back on its history. It's standing close to a ditch along a dirt road in a small woodland with very old hazel (with Lactarius hortensis !), some old oaks and an about 80 years old solitary birch surrounded by lots of Amanita fulva, some Amanita muscaria, Leccinum scabrum, Russula aeruginea, R. betularum and R. claroflava.

Remember David (and you ?) couldn't tell the difference between P. squarrosoides (photo 1) and P. squarrosa, and between P. limonella (photo 2) and P. aurivella, because he (and you both ?) had never seen either of the species depicted in my photo's ? And what Pholiota species is in the next two photo's ? ---

Not from the fungal perspective, but from the angle of the pagan shamanistic roots of judeo-christianity.

1. No, according to Ryvarden & Gilbertson and my own research, not on the European continent, it isn't ! 2. I didn't say it was impossible that P. aurivella fruits from birch, I said that this could well be P. heteroclita, which not only differs macroscopically (different stipe, not a "sticky" cap with less, but bigger and flatter scales), but especially microscopically from P. aurivella.

Documentation of an oak with massive bark, cambium and sapwood necrosis, of which the pathogen causing the canker is (yet) unknown. ---

Tony, Not "common as muck" on the European continent though, so what would be your answer to Steve's question if it is R. ulmarius on Aesculus ?

If you have a close look, you can see the gold medals hanging from the branches .

Yes it is, that is to say, provided this is P. aurivella and not P. heteroclita, the only Pholiota fruiting from wounds on trunks of living Betula.

Guy, No they don't, its the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), the Holy Mushroom, the Cosmic Egg (photo 1), the Holy Grail, The Golden Fleece (photo 2), the Avalon, the Burning Bush, the Chalice, manna or the bread or host, in the old days mainly associated with spruce and birch, that does this .

As promised, the lime (second right) in total overview. ---

Just about, they actually represent multi seasonal growth, as the mycelium sometimes stops building new layers underneath the perennial brackets for a while if the circumstances temporarely inhibit growth and resumes fruiting within the same year once the conditions have improved enough.

Does it produce rusty brown spores ? If so, it probably is G. australe, but to be 100 % sure, identification includes looking at the size of the spores (microscope).

On Salix : Pholiota species, probably P. alnicola, but 100 % sure : microscope.

To elaborate on the above two points, trees associated with ectomycorrhizal macrofungi are for the greater part depending on Russula and Lactarius species for the phosphorous (prerequisite for DNA) they need for their reproductive cycles. Russula and Lactarius species have relatively big FB's, that need a lot of energy (sugar polymeres) coming from the tree roots for their formation. Because of that Russula and Lactarius species are "permitted" to enter the tree species specific life cycle shortly before the tree starts its first blossoming and fruiting. As every tree has its species specific life cycle with its successive phases of ectomycorrhizal symbionts, for every tree species the appearance of Russula and Lactarius FB's starts at a certain age, which can differ by many years minus or plus from the starting ages of other tree species. A tree with a mean life span of about 80-100 years, such as a birch, needs generalistic and tree species specific Russula and Lactarius species at the age of 15-20 years, a beech with a mean life span of 200-300 years needs them after 30-40 years and an oak with a life span of 600-800 years at about the age of 60-80 years to be capable of regular seasonal fruiting.