A few from today

alge · #1 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 07:14 PM

We had a light shower this morning but nothing useful for ground dwellers, so my eyes were trained on the trees again and once again three hours flew past. I have to say this years late rains are turning out to be a huge plus, i'm looking at fungi that have slipped me (or should i say i've slipped) by for years.

the first one i encountered was growing at the foot of an oak i have a reference in phillips that looks similar, some of the key indicators fit my its way out of my league to call this. So am I in the right territory with Inonotus dryadeus

The next one was growing on a cluster of sweet chestnut crowns. Its most striking feature is its white maze shaped pores. Rings were evident on the cap even on the tiny fruits. its colour was tan/brown to grey in bands greying more so with age. It cant be Daedalea quericina so where should i look next?

Following on from there i spotted an ash that had broken apart (quick thanks to hymadryad for pointing out to look for trees with problems and go from there). Some large brackets were spiraling up the trunk & it had clearly broken along these lines. My thoughts are firmly in the direction of Granoderma but i am strugling to refine it past either G. adspersum, G. lipsiense or G. applanatum. my thinking is adspersum is most common, but the pores were too tight, applanatum looks the best fit but is uncommon, lipsiense is a close match but these were consistently flatter than stated in my books. So? Once again any advise would be great.

My last one is a matter of experience, after finding some Piptoporus betulinus i turned round and this was on a fallen silver birch. Small white to pinkish when old brackets and round limpet looking forms the edges of the brackets had fine white hairs just about evident on their edges. There were patches that looked like insect eggs, that im stumped on. Once again Phillips has Clindrobasidium evolvens which is as close as i can get.

Ok my last i promise is a Pleurotus confirm s.v.p. I have only recently started to find P. ostreatus So far i have found three & this one just doesn't look right but really close. so could it be Pleurotus pulmonaria?

Sorry for the huge post

it was an enjoyable walk what can i say

alex

Chris Yeates · #2 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 09:10 PM

second one down is indeed Daedalea quercina - it also occurs on Castanea though not commonly in Britain; chestnut is an honorary oak as far as many fungi are concerned (and the two genera are closely related)

next one down looks like Ganoderma adspersum - but I always check the spores - so that's not an id. though it is a Ganoderma. "Ganoderma lipsiense" is to quote BMSFRD "A nomen dubium. Applied to G. applanatum by some British and European authors" i.e. no one is sure what the original description actually referred to - forget that one then

last one is Pleurotus cornucopiae - note more or less central stem and anastomosing (i.e. interconnected) gills . . . pulmonarius usually doesn't have a stem and if it does it is markedly lateral

glad you had a nice day - so did I but I'm mostly getting excited by rusts, smuts and mildews at the moment

cheers

Chris

hamadryad · #3 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 09:57 PM

i concur to the dryadeus, without a doubt, the adspersum also, the others aint in my area.

hamadryad · #4 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 10:07 PM

what i didnt add was that it is great to see the fracture portion in your image, it matches in with all the images I have of fractures caused by the ganadermas. It seems the butt rot extends only 6ft max into the but section and the solid would above just shears of the soft stump, great pics by the way.

If you continue observing the condition of trees and the fungi they have youll learn to recognise trees that have certain fungi. i spotted an ash from a 1/4 mile the other day thought it worth the walk and there as i suspected was a hispidus bracket, while banging my feet on the hollow buttresses to get an elavated position for the high bracket i found to my dismay that hornets had found the hollow base a good place to nest. a few rushed shots and me and the dog made a hasty retreat!

look out for sick prunus pissardii if you want to find laetiporus, it loves cherries also, much much more than oaks etc

alge · #5 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 10:10 PM

Thanks for your comments Chris, Ref. {Castanea...an honorary oakxexe I shall take that on board, the majority of woods around here contain Castanea stands, some pretty old ones too. Ref. Ganoderma adspersum I found several large beech trees or should i say probably fagus sylvatica hosting what appeared to be the same brackets, I'm sure they will be around for a few years still, so hopefully one day you will get some images of the basidia and spores to view. I've taken a look at the your suggestion of P. cornucopiae and of course it make sense. I cant do the microscopic work but i can try to take a spore print, which i should have done before posting and then my question would have be more a clarification

Enjoy your muses they look lucrative

alex

alge · #6 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 10:26 PM

thanks Hamadryad, My whole approach to the subject is changing at the moment and its great to to get into looking at some other types of fungi.

i poked a wasp nest today it was a beautiful structure thankfully it was dormant, I hope you and the dog escaped unscathed

alge · #7 (**permalink**) 19-09-2009, 08:09 AM

I went back to the Pleurotus cornucopiae and took a sample for more detailed photos and a spore sample and yes, once the paper had dried out the spores did show with a light violet tinge (only showing up against a coloured background, not against white and not evident enough to show in a photo). I've found two more trunks hosting since too so i may be brave and try some. So thanks very much Chris its a new one i can confidently i.d in the field now.

Alex