Heterobasidion or something else??

[kiltoncomp]

these were found on the remnants of a birch stump that was well decayed,
i thought at first they were Heterobasidion annosum, but according to sources these are only associated with conifer stumps/roots,
is this another species growing in an unusual habitat, or is it something else?
the colour seems to be a bit brighter than is "normal" for H.annosum



Brian.

[Chris Yeates]

hi Brian

it surely isn't Heterobasidion, both on substrate grounds and it also looks too "thick" to me

now the difficult bit - what is it?

I'll (try to) get back on that one!

cheers

Chris

[Andy Overall]

Originally Posted by kiltoncomp

these were found on the remnants of a birch stump that was well decayed,
i thought at first they were Heterobasidion annosum, but according to sources these are only associated with conifer stumps/roots,
is this another species growing in an unusual habitat, or is it something else?
the colour seems to be a bit brighter than is "normal" for H.annosum



Brian.

Odd this, it reminds me of one of the resinaceous Ganoderma's, though the host tree and pores are wrong, what I can see of them anyhow. Is it definitely a Birch

Andy

[kiltoncomp]

Originally Posted by Andy Overall

Odd this, it reminds me of one of the resinaceous Ganoderma's, though the host tree and pores are wrong, what I can see of them anyhow. Is it definitely a Birch

Andy

that was the best shot i could get of the pores, due to it being close to the ground, without removing it from the stump, which was definitely a birch stump,( i doubled checked it was birch)

Brian.

[mollisia]

Hallo,

it could well be Ganoderma lucidum, which I have seen myself on birch several times. Especially growing in moors on Betula pubescens! The first time I was thinking "impossible" , but I have been told that that is not too uncommon.

But I wouldn't go so far to determine this as Ganoderma lucidum, becuase I'm not too sure whether this is not just Fomitopsis pinicola.

A little piece cut of from the fruitbody and the hope to find some spores there would resolve the problem in minutes ....

best regards,
Andreas

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by mollisia

I'm not too sure whether this is not just Fomitopsis pinicola.

Must be another species that is in abundance over in Germany Andreas (you lucky chap )- it's extremely rare here in Britain. The only specimens of F. pinicola I have seen didn't really look like this, even in immaturity. It's the perfect colour but the shape makes me wonder. Would be great for Brain if it was!

[Andy Overall]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Hallo,

it could well be Ganoderma lucidum, which I have seen myself on birch several times. Especially growing in moors on Betula pubescens! The first time I was thinking "impossible" , but I have been told that that is not too uncommon.

But I wouldn't go so far to determine this as Ganoderma lucidum, becuase I'm not too sure whether this is not just Fomitopsis pinicola.

A little piece cut of from the fruitbody and the hope to find some spores there would resolve the problem in minutes ....

best regards,
Andreas

Hello

We are most most unlikely to see G. lucidum on Birch in this country, though having said that I wouldn't rule anything out these days.

Andy

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by Andy Overall

Hello

We are most most unlikely to see G. lucidum on Birch in this country, though having said that I wouldn't rule anything out these days.

Andy

That's a good thing though isn't it Andy? It's good to see fungi evolving and surviving on other substrates. Take Rhodotus palmatus- it has learned to survive on other substrates due to the lack of Elm. Clever really, but it doesn't half make identification harder

[mollisia]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Must be another species that is in abundance over in Germany Andreas (you lucky chap )- it's extremely rare here in Britain. The only specimens of F. pinicola I have seen didn't really look like this, even in immaturity. It's the perfect colour but the shape makes me wonder. Would be great for Brain if it was!

Hi Nick,

sorry, but this is hard to believe. Fomitopsis pinicola is said to be common from the mediterranean area up to the artic. It is not at all confined ti spruce, but is also common on Fagus, Alnus, Betula, Malus and Prunus, just to name some of the more common hosts. In sw-Germany there are only 83 squares (of 1109) where it has not been recorded - may be because no one was there to look for ....

yes, it looks not very typical, something is "strange" and I'm far from being certain with Fomitopsis of course. It should be just an idea, not a determination.

best regards,
Andreas

[NickCantle]

I wasn't disagreeing with you Andreas! I was just putting my opinion in

I can assure you that F. pinicola is exceedingly rare in this country. Ask anyone here!