Ganoderma

[flaxton]

I had always thought of G applanatum as being the large but thin Ganoderma whereas G australe had a much "chunkier" fruitbody. Then I find this


Which is exactly as I would expect and would probably in the past logged it as G applanatum. Unfortunately I usually check nowadays and the spores tell a different tale.
One more Ganoderma australe for my records.

Mal

[treecreeper]

This came up in Field Mycology magazine but annoyingly I can't find the article. I remember the conclusion was that it was impossible to distinguish G. australe from G. applanatum without taking a section through the fruit body and measuring the depth of the pores relative to the height of the whole fruit body.

[Chris Yeates]

providing you look ata good number of spores, in my experience these two Ganoderma species are relatively easy to separate on spore characters

my 'collection' of a Ganoderma is generally a leaf or bit of bark from beneath the fruit-body - almost invariably covered in spores

a few seconds under the microscope and . . . .

Chris

[flaxton]

Thats the method I use Chris and I have found it fairly straightforward to separate the two.

Mal