Fungus

David & Tony, No, L. scabrum s.s. only associates with Betula species, L. griseum with Carpinus and from Corylus avellana, which only has Lactarius hortensis (= L. pyrogalus) as a tree species specific symbiont, is no Leccinum species documented.

Looking at the scaly stem, that's what I thought too .

John & Steve, And both tree species are associated with and for their water and nutrients supply depending on (the mycelia of) to the greater part tree species specific ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, for which the nitrogen is extremely toxic causing them to die thus leaving the tree roots unprotected against parasitic macrofungi such as Armillaria species.

David, . What kind of tree species were near by, that is to say within 5-20 metres ?

Corrected list of endo- and ectomycorrhizal tree species : see Cedrus.

I have quite different experiences with Wikipedia on several subjects and especially on mycology, because most of the mostly anonymus "authors" simply are copy cats of work of others while lacking the knowledge needed for checking the validity of the information provided. And my offers to correct information are mostly followed by complete silence, so I've given up on trying to make Wikipedia a reliable source of information.

David, My mistake, I wrongly classified the ectomycorrhizal Cedrus as endomycorrhizal. But even so, in this case the Fly Agaric could also have been associated with the beech, which is number two on the top ten of tree species specific ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, including the cosmopolitan Amanita muscaria. And you rightfully mistrust Wikipedia being a source of lots of unauthorized nonsense, though in this case Wiki was right about Cedrus.

Correction of the short list : Cedrus is ectomycorrhizal. - Ectomycorrhizal : Quercus, Fagus, Betula (1), Populus, Salix (1), Alnus (1), Carpinus, Castanea, Tilia, Corylus, Nothofagus, Eucalyptus and Pinus, Picea, Abies, Larix. Cedrus and Pseudotsuga. - Mostly endomycorrhizal (1) in the pioneer phase of their life cycle and exclusively ectomycorrhizal in successive phases : Alnus, Betula and Salix. - Endo- and possibly also ectomycorrhizal with Entoloma species such as E. clypeatum : Crataegus (2) and E. saundersii : Ulmus (2). - Endomycorrhizal (2) : Acer, Fraxinus, Platanus, Aesculus, Ulmus, Prunus, Malus, Pyrus, Sorbus, Crataegus, Robinia, Acacia, Pterocarya, Ostrya, Gymnocladus, Ilex, Juglans, Gleditsia, Morus, Ailanthus, Ginkgo, Liriodendron, Sophora, Davidia, Catalpa, Magnolia, Zelkova, Paulownia, Rhododendron, Amelanchier, Laburnum, Tamarix, Cercis and other (exotic) deciduous and coniferous trees such as Taxus, Juniperus, Araucaria, Sequoia, Sequoiadendron, Metasequoia, Taxodium, Thuja, Chamaecyparis and Cupressus. - Tree species specific type of mycorrhiza : Arbutus.

Tim, Maybe a Cockchafers white grub ?

... which of course, as a Dutch collegue rightfully pointed out, must be jays .

Daar zou ik op zich niets op tegen hebben, maar toch bedankt voor het wijzen op mijn spelfout, die ik onmiddelijk ga herstellen.

Dean, In the old days, poplar was used for wooden shoes, matches and the paper (and cellulose) industry, pine was used for supporting the mine galleries (stutbalk) in the years ago closed nearby coal mines. Nowadays, there is not much use for the wood anymore, so the spontaneous woodlands have taken over the sites.

Here's another (digitalised) photo of a (partially) sterile panic reproduction of Daedalea quercina, I found in my "classical" slide database. ---

Today Dutch television and radio both had an item on the killing of ashes by Chalara fraxinea, which within one and a half year has spread all over The Netherlands. The spores travel by air infecting the trees from above, as is shown by its spreading at great speed from Finland to Poland, from there on to the northern parts of Germany (Rügen) and then to The Netherlands and southern Denmark (Falster).

Boomwrat or Blote billetjeszwam.

Rob, Panaeolus foenisecii.

Rob, In Dutch called Tree Wart or Naked Buttocks Fungus .

Ian, As you probably would have expected, this phenomenon is not restricted to ArbTalk or the U.K. as a whole. In The Netherlands, I was forced to delete all information on the effects of fungi on trees from a public site, after a non-certified tree worker in his defense publically mentioned my name as his source of information, which he had misread and misunderstood because of an obvious lack of basic knowledge on the subject, after a tree, which should have been felled at short notice if the problem and associated risks had been diagnosed correctly, fell causing thousands of euros damage.

Dean, 1. In The Netherlands we have some experience with either spontaneous or managed (re)forestation of disused coal tip sites. At first, the sites are dominated by Betula, Salix, Populus tremula and/or Alnus, followed by Sorbus aucuparia, Prunus padus and Sambucus nigra with bird spread seeds and an odd Quercus robur "planted" by gays. When managed, the sites are planted with other poplar species and/or Pinus sylvestris, which are "harvested" after they have reached the proper age for processing in the wood industry. 2. Yes it is. Spontaneous "forest" development with birch, willow, alder and aspen goes through certain phases of tree species specific ecosystem and soil food web succesion with generalistic pioneer ectomycorrhizal macrofungi as symbionts. With extreme acid pH levels of 1 or 2, only one species of macrofungi associates with the seedlings of these tree species : Pisolithus arhizus (= P. tinctorius). Once the soil acidity diminishes, other pioneer symbionts, such as Laccaria species, Inocybe species, Hebeloma species, Alnicola species, some Cortinarius species, Thelephora terrestris and Scleroderma citrinum, take over until the phase of blossoming and fruiting of the trees is reached, after which ectomycorrhizal macrofungi of the following phases in the tree species specific life cycles of the trees colonize the tree roots. 3. See the end of 1. "When managed ... wood industry."

David, Here's another example of this phenomenon, a spruce (to the left) surfacing two major roots at about 6 metres from its own trunk base to round and strangle the trunk base of a beech (to the right) to collect rain water running down from the trunk of the beech, which after it was killed and defoliated was out of competition for water and nutrients and which trunk was an even beter rain supplier to the roots of the spruce. Talking about territorial warfare !!!

See : MTA case study + map.

The map. ---

Another MTA case study of three trees of differing species and their associations with ectomycorrhizal (Quercus, Fagus) or endomycorrhizal (Acer) symbionts. Some years ago, I was asked to assess the causes of the rapidly declining condition of an about 80 years old solitary Acer saccharinum standing in a corner of a lawn in a park (in the drawing to the left side). The tree had for its second year in a row started withdrawing chlorophyl from its leaves in July with yellowing or browning and early fall of the leaves as a result. Although the tree roots in situ seemed to have sufficient access to rain and/or ground water (shallow pond on top of the drawing), the tree looked dehydrated. For the assessment and diagnosis, which took place early September, the following steps were taken. - Samples of the soil were taken and analysed. - An inventory of the ectomycorrhizal macrofungi present showed 3 fully developed FB's of Scleroderma citrinum, one close to the base of the trunk of the Acer and two at the other side of the asphalt footpath. In a zone in the middle between the about 80 years old beech (top right in the drawing) and the Acer, several FB's of Laccaria laccata s.s. were present. To the left of this zone, most of the grass had died and was replaced by mosses. - Five samples of the finer roots of the Acer were taken, one half way and one close to the bushes of Symphoricarpos albus (top of the drawing), one close to the right side of the tree, one underneath the patch with mosses and one in the zone dominated by Laccaria laccata. Only the two samples closest to the tree showed occupation of the roots by endomycorrhizae. Of the other samples, two were lacking endomycorrhiza, with the roots in the sample from underneath the moss patch also being partially dried out and there were no Acer roots present in the Laccaria dominated zone. - Taking samples from the roots linked to the Scleroderma's showed they were associated with roots of the also about 80 years old Quercus rubra (drawing to the right), which had sent out its roots far from its trunk to the "west" passing underneath the asphalt path and reaching up to 30 centimetres of the base of the trunk of the Acer to collect rain water running down from its trunk. - Taking samples of the roots linked to the mycelia of the Laccaria showed roots coming from two sides, from the "north east" a dense mass of superficial beech roots and from the "south east" a few deeper below ground level roots of the Quercus rubra, which had also passed the asphalt path in "north western" direction. Conclusions. - The Acer had only been able to collect water and nutrients at two sides close to the "north" and "east" of the tree, i.e. only where the roots were colonized by endomycorrhizal microfungi. - The roots could not reach the water in the pond, because they were blocked by the root systems of the Symphoricarpos bushes, which competed with the Acer for endomycorrhizal symbionts. - Underneath the patch of mosses, both the grass roots and the Acer roots were dying as a result of an "undecided" territorial war for endomycorrhizal symbionts between the grasses and the tree. - The Laccaria mycelium zone was dominated by the Fagus and Quercus roots, which made an invasion of the endomycorrhiza dependend Acer roots impossible. - Even rain water falling and running down from the crown and the trunk of the Acer was partially tapped by roots of the Quercus rubra. Because the Quercus rubra already had been pollarded 3 years before and the Symphoricarpos bushes were not part of the original design of the park, both the tree and the bushes were removed, the asphalt path to the "south" and "west" of the Acer was reallocated and the sandy soil surrounding the Acer was opened up (oxygen) and fertilized. The follow up after 3 and 5 years showed a tree in much better condition with roots colonized by endomycorrhizal symbionts on all sides of the tree, which were after 5 years even reaching the waterfront of the pond.

I wish I had, great pictures .

P. squamosus with concentric rings of fibrillose (pale) brown scales, which seems to lack the characteristic blackish brown "foot".