Fungus

... and on Aesculus, Castanea, Celtis, Eucalyptus, Gymnocladus, Juglans, Olea, Malus, Populus, Prunus, Salix and Ulmus, but none of the above mentioned tree species, including Fagus, was the host of P. fraxinea in The Netherlands and Belgium this far.

Not yet fully developed Clavulina cristata.

Steve, 1. That would be easy to assess, as Ganoderma's have rusty brown spores and R. ulmarius has hyalin whitish spores. 2. No idea, because according to Ryvarden & Gilbertson, it would be a first find ever of R. ulmarius on Aesculus in Europe.

All true, as I already noticed myself, but the black plating could still be melanine plaques of an Armillaria, of which you can only be 100 % sure, if you have checked the backside of the black layer for hyphae with a microscope . And the wood covered with the black plating seems to be white rotted, as opposed to the central wood column, that has the typical pale brown colour of the soft rot produced by K. deusta.

Gollum, One can add a lot of other parasitic macrofungi to this list, because trees with a short life cycle associated with endomycorrhizal microfungi, such as Prunus and Malus, are far more under fungal attack, because they have a much weaker root defense system and because of that a poorer defense system of the tree as a whole, then trees with a longer life span associated with ectomycorrhizal symbionts have.

Nice veteran oak .

Matt, 18/19/20/21/25/26 : all Amanita rubescens ? 28/29/30/31 : Laccaria laccata ? 32/33/34/35 : Lepiota species ? 48/49 : Gomphidius roseus. 52/53/54 : Abortiporus biennis. 55/56 : Agaricus species.

Tom, Together with Tilia, Acer is "famous" for the damage done by Armillaria species. The main difference is, that : - Tilia, which associates with generalistic ectomycorrhizal symbionts, often succeeds in keeping the infection mainly confined to (a cavity in) the central wood column (see my photo) thus reducing the killing of living tissues, so that the tree can stabilize by compensating growth and regenerate (epicormic growth) from the remaining living tissue after the tree has fallen (long term survival strategy), - where Acer, which associates with endomycorrhizal microfungi, in an early stage is loosing living tissue and bark to the extend, that compensatory sapwood and callus can not be produced, as is shown in some of the last photo's, and the mycelium has free access to the dead wood, that is decomposed at "high speed". Acer react to this with mass production of seeds ending in panic fruiting just before the tree dies or falls (short term survival strategy). ---

Could be, though I've not seen any signs of infection on any of the other limes in the lane this far and the next tree is about 10 metres away, so it would take the rhizomorphs 10 years to reach the trunk base of the only other tree "available", as this lime is a corner tree at a t-fork of compacted cycle paths.

Tom, At that height, it probably was a panic fruiting bracket of G. lipsiense coming from the mycelium growing upwards while causing an extensive white rot with delignification, for which the woodpecker's hole would have been a not to be ignored warning sign, in the poor quality wood of the central column of the tree.

Both, but in the end, the Armillaria will win and the tree will fall/split, and after that the lime will be regenerating from its remaining stump with epicormic growth taking over and competing for the "territory" their "mother" left behind while "consuming" her remnants.

It is a "corner" tree, hanging to the right at an angle of about 15 degrees over a pond, mainly depending on the compensatory root to the front left, which is undermined from behind. The crown shows no effects of the infection and is in full foliage with normal fruiting. Apart from the cavity there's no other body language. It seems like the necrotrophic parasitic Honey Fungus has completely entered its saprotrophic phase without fruiting (yet). Next time I'll pass it, I'll make an overview photo.

You had your chance (after Tom already had thanked me for my swift reply) and said, you didn't mind having a stab and being corrected later, so ... ? Besides, I had no idea you were entering a "competition" . By the way, In The Netherlands (and Belgium ?) Perenniporia fraxinea is not only found on ash, but also on Robinia (as in the photo), Quercus and Platanus.

Documentation of a Tilia, which has been white rotted and partially hollowed by the mycelium and rhizomorphs of Armillaria mellea. ---

1. Yes, it is, and funny indeed. 2. Russula parazurea. 3/4. Xerocomus (= Boletus) chrysenteron s.l. 5/6. Paxillus involutus. 7/8. Polyporus species, either (a distorted) P. squamosus or P. varius. 9/10. Perenniporia fraxinea. 11. Could be, might also be melanine plaques of Armillaria. 12. Laetiporus sulphureus. 13. What tree species, beech ? If so, probably Inonotus cuticularis.

Frank, Which implicates, that there still must be living tissue of the major roots and/or of the secondary roots connected to the major roots present, because, as Tony also said, M. giganteus is a biotrophic parasite.

Both times 100 % correct : A. rubescens is a generalistic ectomycorrhizal symbiont associated with the final phase of the life cycles of trees, which is, along with the two parasites, another indication of the phase, the beech is in.

So have I, but of a different type that is not always understood by you British . By the way, I love British humour as is produced by Monthy Python, Rowan Atkinson, The Royle family, Absolutely fabulous, Smack the Tony, sorry, I meant Smack the Pony , the Catherine Tate show, Tracey Ullman, Green wing, My family, Coupling, etc.

Not my kind of humour having my ears slapped with ripe giant puffballs producing millions of spores !

Good for you Mark , but Tony, I think armybloke meant himself being one of the "mere mortals" .

And you can also have a look at documentation of what G. australe can do to other tree species, such as Tilia, Acer and Quercus species, in my Ganoderma australe-Tilia-Acer-Quercus album.

David, Great documentation . The decay of older (major) roots from underneath and from then on inside the roots and the reactive formation of adventitious roots around the base of the trunk by the beech is exactly what is documented from the tree species specific attacking strategy of M. giganteus in beech and the compensation for the loss of roots by the tree. Where you also able to assess the extent of white rot from the possibly meanwhile "dived under" mycelium at and underneath ground level of the central wood column of the trunk's base ?

David, As always, great pictures . Some remarks (as expected) : 1. This not S. areolatum, but S. citrinum, the far more regular pattern of the "panther" skin of S. areolatum looks like the surface of the specimen in my photo. 2. Quite exceptional, such a long and well developed stem. 3. I think it might be L. molle.

Dean, I second Tony's view in this and feel the need to remind you, that this yet to ascertain combination of G. australe and Aesculus in a far more progressed stadium was responsible for the total collapse of the scaffolded Anne Frank tree in Amsterdam.

No, IMO he was trying to sum up and describe what the succession of ectomycorrhizal macrofungi in the life of a tree species under "normal" circumstances in its natural habitat would look like to derive the age from a tree growing under optimal circumstances from.