On 8 Oct, 04:44, beccabunga
wrote:
hazchem;818345 Wrote:
On 6 Oct, 15:17, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:-
The message
from hazchem contains these words:
-
A 150 year oldbeechtree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of thetree
contacted thecounciland someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would
fall
over.
Does this make sense to you?-
On the balance of probabilities, no.
-
I have heard that fungus will hollow out
the inside of atreeand that actually makes it stronger. It makes
it
more flexible so that it can withstand storms better, and that it
will
live for many more years.-
Some old trees have been hollow for centuries.
-
It doesn't look like honey fungus. It occurred to me that maybe the
councilofficial wanted to be on the safe side. They might not want
to
say it could be OK because then if something happened and it did
fall
on someone or a car then they might be considered to be to blame.-
Well, if you have a website, and the fruit-bodies are still there,
could
you get a pic and post it? If no-one here can identify it,
alt.nature.mushrooms would be a good place to ask. There are some
serious mycologists in the group.
-
I have put some pictures on my website
http://tinyurl.com/3o45yw
can anyone identify it?
This would seem to be the culprit:
A much largerbeechfungus is the GIANT POLYPORE (P. giganteus), the
largest of our Bracket Fungi, which attacks the roots and base of the
trunks, demoralizing the foundations, so that a hugebeechthat appears
to have the solidity of a lighthouse, is snapped across in the first
severe gale. The external manifestation of the fungus is made in
autumn, when about twenty handsome, overlapping, fleshy fans, a foot
across, and of a pale brown tint, with darker zones, make their
appearance at the base of the trunk. The pallid underside of the flaps
becomes dark at once when bruised. Its esculent qualities are
appreciated on the Continent.
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beccabunga- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
I don't know if you managed to see the pictures I put onto the
website, if not I have tried to put them on a different site he-
http://www.geocities.com/gdvbqz/beech/beech.html
From what you said the council could be right about it being likely to
fall over.
Hazchem