Inonotus on Beech

[RobSutton]

Found this on Beech at Malham Tarn, the tree is still alive but only just, one branch is still bearing leaves so no doubt about the ID of the host.



I'm pretty sure it is an Inonotus, the pore surface had that almost irridescent sheen (bright silvery when seen from one angle, dull from another) that seems typical and it has the bent setae that also seem required.





It has small spores (4.7-5.3µ x 3.1-3.5µ) though:

.. and the only species that seems to fit is I.nodulosus and checking in the CHECKLIST OF THE BRITISH & IRISH BASIDIOMYCOTA it seems as if this is only recorded from the south of England and a few places in Scotland and is cited as Near Threatened (Red Data List, ed. 2). It would seem as if high up in the hills in the Yorkshire Dales would be a bit of a distribution jump so I'm wondering if I've made a basic ID error on this one?

[Chris Yeates]

hi Rob

my money would be on I. radiatus - spores within the range (from memory! - might be proved wrong when I check!) and it has been recorded on Fagus in Britain (including Yorkshire), the records including some I. nodulosus mis-ident's: see:

British Fungi - record details

cheers

Chris

[RobSutton]

Thanks Chris - I'd sort of ignored radiatus as being an Alder specialist, looking at Fungi of Switzerland it and nodulosus seem very similar microscopically and they suggest that some authors think they are the same species so Inonotus radiatus seems very likely indeed.

Cheers

[Fungalpunk]

I've just had I Radiatus on Silver Birch and it does say in some books it isn't strictly an Alder species. I reckon it could be this!

Fungalpunk Dave

[RobSutton]

Hi Dave

The checklist mentions Alder and Birch and then a list of unverified hosts including Beech. Well mine was definitely on Beech and an alive one at that; there were still leaves on it though it was very obviously in very poor health with only a couple of branches still showing green!

Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota

Inonotus radiatus (Sowerby) P. Karst., Bidr. Känn. Finl. Nat. Folk 37: 73 (1882)

Habitat: Usually on dead standing trunks of Alnus and sometimes Betula spp. Also reported on Carpinus, Corylus, Fagus, Fraxinus, Populus tremula, Quercus, Salix, Sambucus nigra, Syringa vulgaris, Ulex europaeus and Ulmus spp., but these hosts are unverified.

Alder and Birch are in the same family (as are Hazel (Corylus) and Hornbeam (Carpinus)) so I guess being common to Alder and Birch is not too surprising but the others mentioned (Oak, Beech, Aspen, Elder, Elm etc) are in different families.

The link provided by Chris to the BMS FRDBI lists a number of records from Beech - including:

FRDBI: Record Details

Pages: 1 of 15 records.

Inonotus radiatus (as Polyporus nodulosus - a misidentification), on/with Fagus sylvatica, on wood, woodland, --/11/1906, England, West Sussex (VC: 13), Heyshott, coll.: E.W. Swanton, id: anon, herb.: K(M)76738, Notes: ex herb. A.L. Smith, FRDBI Record No.: 524385, Origin of Record: RBG Kew 'herbtrak' + herb. K (full record data).

...

Inonotus radiatus, on/with Fagus sylvatica, bark, 20/09/2006, England, East Sussex (VC: 14), Ardingly, Wakehurst Place, Loder Reserve, coll.: E.W. Brown, id: N.W. Legon, herb.: K(M)141795, FRDBI Record No.: 1238770, Origin of Record: RBG Kew 'herbtrak' + herb. K (full record data).

Inonotus radiatus, on/with Fagus sylvatica, branch, broad-leaved semi-natural woodland (A111), Alt(m): 20, 28/07/2007, England, South Hampshire (VC: 11), Ranswood, SU3603, coll.: A. Lucas (26782), id: A. Lucas, FRDBI Record No.: 1298316, Origin of Record: Hampshire Fungus Recording Group (Graham Mattock/Stuart Skeates) (full record data).

.. so it does seem quite well documented on Beech and it gives the nicely confusing "common name" record of Alder Bracket on Beech