Fungus

David, That's how it's done properly :thumbup: .

1. At the risk of being a pain in the ..., it could just as well be Chlorociboria aeruginosa, which only can be distinguished from C. aeruginascens by microscopic features. 2. And you British were quite famous because of using the green stained wood for marquetry or inlays in furniture called Tunbridge Ware.

Or one of the macroscopical look-a-likes of M. cinerea, which can not be distinguished from one another without using a microscope and specialised literature.

Melastiza species have a distinctive blackish zone on the outside edge of their apothecia consisting of darker cells, so this definitely is a Peziza, which just as Melastiza species, cannot be identified without using a microscope and chemicals such as Melzer's reagens.

No, the red dipper parents dip their young in the juice of crushed red berries .

Janey, Ever since the parents had to pin and sew the red patch of feathers on the chests of their young .

David, No caustic potash available to trigger this reaction ? ---

Besides, the Latin names almost always refer to certain aspects or characteristics of a genus and/or species. And some taxonomists must have had a great sense of humour calling the Stinkhorn the "impudent phallus" and a puffball Lycoperdon foetidum, the Greek lykos meaning wolf, the Greek perdomai meaning release wind or fart and the Latin foetidum meaning revolting smelly or with a nauseating stench .

Again great pictures . Could you perform the KOH-test on the cut in half bracket to show the purple colouring effect ?

David, Nice pictures with so much detail, that I think it could just as well be Pleurotus cornucopiae, because it is funnel-shaped, has deeply decurrent lamellae and also seems to have transverse connections between the lamellae.

Dave, See : Guignardia aesculi.

Aesculus does either stressed by Cameraria ohridella (photo 1) or by Guignardia aesculi (photo 2). ---

Correct, excelsior being Latin and archaic English meaning "even higher". And I wouldn't bother drawing attention to names or terms being spelt incorrectly if it did not cause problems in using the Search function.

There also is a species of Rhytisma causing Tar Spot of Willow called R. salicinum (photo 1). And I depict Guignardia aesculi (photo 2), which has a different effect on the leaves of Aesculus then the larvae of the Horse-chestnut leaf miner (photo 3). ---

What about the galls of the Bedeguar Gall Wasp on Roses ? ---

Rob, In my database, I found another photo of "spikes" on the trunk of a debarked poplar. ---

Rob, It gets even weirder once the insect has left the "building". ---

Janey, In Dutch it is called Pineapple Gall.

I totally agree (see my before post), although I hope that you in future will say Quercus rober and write Q. robur . And by the way, we Dutch have Dutch names for all insects and (macro)fungi, which are indigenous to our country.

Because otherwise it would be impossible for me to contribute to the fora (= latin) on tree health care and fungi (= the international latin term for mushrooms and toadstools) as you mycophobic (= latin) British - other then the Dutch, German and French - only have a few English names for the thousands of indigenous species (= latin) of macrofungi (= latin) of the U.K.

The winter phase is a parasite of Juniperus communis causing branches and needles to die (see photo). ---

Rob, 1. Again caused by Laetiporus brown rot of the heart wood. 2. Probably caused by (rhizomorphs of) a necrotrophic parasitic Armillaria species, of which presence the black cambium leakage spots also are an indication.

Rob, ... caused by Laetiporus brown rot of the heart wood ... etc.

Janey, Yes, the combination of the pupae of the Goast moth (Thitarodes namnai) and Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Yartsa gunbu), along with Tricholoma matsutake and Termitomyces species, are the most commercially important collected food and "medicinal drugs" with lots of supposed or evidenced properties and qualities. In the Himalaya's (Tibet), yearly hundreds to thousands of kilo's of "Yartsa gunbu" are "harvested" in the wild, which depending on the quantity availible and the quality, are sold in the market place for 2.200 to 40.000 dollar pro kilo. Of Tricholoma matsutake, yearly 2.300 to 3.500 tons of fresh mushrooms are exported from China to Japan. The Sumo wrestlers of Sjanhai consume the "Caterpillar Fungus" before entering into contest. At the Chinese national championships in 1993, Chinese athletes broke 9 middle and long distance track world records. Because the "medicin" is not on the international list of forbidden drugs, the records had to be accepted.

Besides, as long as the young oak doesn't blossom and fruit, it is not yet in need of the phosphor it mainly gets delivered via the mycelia and ectomycorrhizae of Russula's and Lactarius species, necessary for the (re)formation of DNA to pass on in its seeds.