Fungus

Some examples of this phenomenon in other tree species then beech. Photo 1/2 : Quercus robur. Photo 3 : Fraxinus excelsior. Photo 4 : Populus species.

Tom, 1. In the this far documented cases of beeches, but also of oaks, limes and ashes, I don't think it is a random or trial and error process, because : - there's no evidence, i.e. are no remains, of other dormant buds in the direct vicinity of the bridges, which had been activated and "send out" (in vain) to meet others too, and - the phenomenon of complete merging at the tip of the branches and full closure of the bark only takes place among trunks and branches of genetically identical trees coming from the same "mother" (first photo). Besides, there is a lot of recent research showing plants and trees are capable of communicating over some distance through secretion of within species specific feromones for which they (of course) have receptors too. And there is evidence for the same phenomenon happening among insects and trees (Acacia <> ants), between tree roots and tree species specific ectomycorrhizal macrofungi and between a parasitic Armillaria species, which as a wolf in sheep's clothing, mimics the feromones of ectomycorrhizal macrofungi to "be let in" by the tree, too. 2. In David's case, I think it concerns "schuurtakken" (grate or scour branches), which have formed "grafts" with incomplete cambium-cambium contact and bark closure on the "rubbing" sides without complete merging, as also can be seen in the next two photo's.

Tony, , I didn't notice it until now.

1. Even among the Brassicaceae, there are some exceptions (see : Brassica & VAM), as Brassica napus and B. oleracea turn out to be optional mycorrhizal in associating with endomycorrhizal species such as Glomus fasciculatum. And I said, that over 90 % of the green plants are endomycorrhizal, so the "many others" must belong to the less then 10 % left. The most successful plant species on earth - the grasses - are endomycorrhizal, so maybe that's why they, combined with their easy dispersed tiny seeds long distance spread by birds, have succeeded in colonizing the farthest corners of the world and are such tough competitors with other plants and some endomycorrhizal tree species, that trees species such as Acer (water withdrawal) and Aesculus (slow degrading of foliage) invest in keeping them out of their root system territories. 2. As an European mycologist and forest ecologist, I'm not familiar with these tree species. Can you tell me how these tree species protect and defend themselves against and shield off roots from tree invading parasitic or wood degrading fungi and/or other damaging organisms and how often they don't succeed in preventing or outgrowing attacks by parasites ? And are any tree species specific parasitic and saprotrophic fungi known from these tree species, or are they colonized by cosmopolitan generalistic parasitic or saprotrophic macrofungi, such as Armillaria mellea/ostoyae, Kretzschmaria deusta or Trametes versicolor ?

Which is typical for the first phase of outside in wood decay (white rot) by the mycelium of necrotrophic parasitic Armillaria species, shielded off on the outside by thin black melanine plates.

A quite spectacular example of a beech with several branch bridges to stabilize a far outreaching branch/trunk and keep it from bending down or dropping. Although the base of the joint is colonized by Pholiota aurivella and Oudemansiella mucida is present on one of the branch bridges, the multi-furcated tree has stayed stable for the last 15 years. ---

An example of how far away FB's of Amanita rubescens can be from the beeches the mycelium associates with. In this case, the superficial beech roots outreach the crown projection of the trees by several metres and even underpass a compressed gravel path reaching to the point where the Amanita mycelium fruits. ---

Tony, The brownish to olivaceous colour and the velvety matt texture of the cap, the orange red colour of the pores turning dark blue when bruised, the yellowish colour of the stipe with reddish dots and a reddish apex and the association with oak.

Matt, Boletus erythropus.

David, It's always nice to enjoy good food (and drinks) with locals . But to give you an idea of numbers, we're talking about 600 metric tons of "porcini" coming from Scandinavia every year, picked by Polish and Lituanian season workers camping in their VW-vans and making coffee fires in the woods everywhere, because of the Swedish "almansrecht".

David, I'm sure, none of the porcini put on your pizza came from Italy. Almost all "Italian" Boletus edulis, which in Swedish is called Karl Johan, after a king with a big head and sticking forward belly , is imported from Scandinavia and transported by ship to Italy, where the "mush masters" dry and package them and put labels with "produito d' Italia" on the very expensive bags with very small portions of dried fungi, of which I sometimes have wondered, whether they were all real "porcini" .

I'm afraid this is straight blasphemy in the enlightened eyes of the almighty Fly Agaric, you will be punished for in Amanita hell !!!

I don't, some of the mushrooms do before they are fried or plunged into the soup, but I have no compassion with these cry babies .

David, To be honest, I didn't spot the needle, I was just looking at some very tasty mushies, I 've been eating a lot of in the German Eifel.

David, Good to have you back. Did you - apart from the dog c..p - settle a bit yet ? So especially for you, two more photo's of beech lanes or avenues at the estate of Einde Gooi. The first one is a lane half way ending in and connecting to six other beech lanes together forming a seven pointed star of lanes, of which you can see three other lanes, one going straight on and two going to both sides. And the second is the main avenue leading from the mansion to the main road of the town of Hollandsche Rading with originally about 300 100-150 years old beeches planted in double rows at each side of the dirt road. ---

And documentation of two of three beeches, which were struck by lightning several years ago. All three trees are standing at the edge of a 100-150 years old beech woodland under direct influence of ammonia (nitrification) coming from an overmanured grassland and a maize field. The last beech has recently been hit again and lost its entire crown. ---

Tony, You'll see all of these trees, including the Liriodendron, and many more with all kinds of perennial bracket fungi, including Phellinus robustus, when we visit some of the estates and forests or woodlands, I've monitored and documented over more then 15 years, during your short stay in my region coming Oktober .

David, Depending on the coniferous tree species they are associated with, it is Lactarius deterrimus with spruce or L. deliciosus (= delicious) with pine.

No, it isn't a canker nor bark necrosis, but the effect of the mycelium "consuming" almost all of the heart wood after which the bark sinking starts and strips of bark are thrown off. This type of "damaging" a tree on the long run is typical of some Phellinus species, as is shown in the next two photo's of P. robustus on Quercus rubra and P. igniarius on Populus alba. ---

Matt, Isn't it about time you leave this dormant baby in peace ?

Another example of how our little helper can guide us to problem trees. Before a woodpecker made a nesting hole in this Quercus robur, I had noticed the double buckling at greater height without knowing whether it was caused by a reaction to a "mechanical" problem (fibre kinking : bulge-wood) or to an internal stability problem (flexibility-stiffness or slenderness ratio) caused by a white or brown rotter. With only Phellinus robustus (see the next photo's) and no Laetiporus sulphureus around at the entire estate monitored for some years and no horizontal cracks in the buckling zones, I consider it acceptable to assume, that it has to be the white rot causing P. robustus, which is doing the damage to the heart wood of the oak without showing itself at the outside (yet). ---

Sure that does make sense, their could f.i. have been brackets of Ganoderma australe at the base, which could have been co-responsible for the failure higher up the tree.

This is what melanine plates or plaques on a laying trunk of a beech look like and the second photo shows the meanwhile exposed white rot caused by the Armillaria mycelium originally covered by the melanine plates. ---

Looks like a "mechanical" failure to me without fungal activity as a cause.

Sean, They are only interested in the algae growing on the bracket's surface, which they scrape off with their "sharp pin teethed" radula.