Yellow fruiting bodies on redwood for ID

[APC]

Hi there,
A month ago I noticed these growing up a giant redwood in Hampshire. I am not convinced they are armarillia as it isn't growing from the base and I can't find similar pictures. I took photos every day for around 10 days until someone booted them off. Does anyone have any ideas on what they might be please?

There is dieback from the lower branches, a few woodpecker holes around 10m. Overall height is 30-35m. I've had a root around the soil below where the fruiting bodies show and cannot see any bootlaces. There is a fairly strong mushroom smell.

There had been an ongoing issues with leaking water pipes nearby which had led to the nearby soil being pretty waterlogged for months, a few years ago.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Fascinating looking fungi there. Don't know what they are. Did they have gills or pores?

Cheers,

Adam

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi,

These have a distinct look of young Gymnopilus junonius - Spectacular Rustgill.

Regards,
Mike.

[APC]

Hi there, thanks for the input! Here are a few more pics, I'm sorry I can't remember whether gilled or pores! The ID Lancashire Lad suggested looks quite promising!

[APC]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

Hi,

These have a distinct look of young Gymnopilus junonius - Spectacular Rustgill.

Regards,
Mike.

Looked that up, found this: Gymnopilus ventricosus. Junonius appears to be out of our range although ventricosus looks in it. Found conflicting pics on both though so appears to be some sort of confusion. If I had my Phillip's book, I'd get into that but it's at work!

[waxcap]

Hi APC,

Gymnopilus ventricosus seems to be a North American species that grows on Fir and can get quite large. If you are in Arlesford UK then it's more likely to be Gymnopilus junonius. I've seen a fair bit around at the moment.

Dave

[fairplay]

Mike (Lancashire Lad) is correct with Gymnopilus junonius, but I should point out that Armillaria can grow in huge numbers all the way up Pine trees to a height of 40ft.

I came across this on Pines at Mousehold Heath, Norwich 2 years ago - I managed to dislodge one and gave it to the foray leader to sort out to species level but which type of Armillaria it was I shall never know as it wasn't my foray.

Neil.

[APC]

Thanks for your help!

[APC]

It started chucking out more fruiting bodies 2 weeks ago, although nowhere near as many as before.

Does anyone have any idea on whether they are detrimental to the tree? The tree in question is in a public place, i.e. at my park. I can't find much, if anything on potential outcomes. I'm not overly keen on the idea of getting up in a MEWP and dismantling it tbh.

[fairplay]

I'm beginning to wonder if this is separate to Gymnopilus junonius - it looks as G.junonius should, and we can now see part of a stem ring, but the habit is so different.

For starters I cannot remember it ever growing on attached bark before, let alone that of a Redwood, and as for it growing at this height and in patches, well that's certainly unusual.

It is safe to rule out G.ventricosus as this is massive, not recorded yet in Britain and has a very distinctive barrel shaped stem.

Gymnopilus species are saprophobic, meaning they grow on dead wood. I thought I read somewhere that the tree seems healthy except for some lower branches dying. I can't re-find it, so perhaps you never said that, but that would sound about normal for a conifer, so my only guess it must be feeding directly on the bark which, going by the thickness of Redwoods, must be dead on the outside.

I'm no Dendrologist though, and neither are most Tree Surgeons, so seek real expert advise and even a second opinion.
However, if it is just feeding on dead bark, you shouldn't have too much to worry about, but I would still inform Kew or the RHS all the same.

Neil.