Fungi Friday 🍄

Happy Fungi Friday as we enter into mushroom season! 🍄

At National Trust Nymans in Mid Sussex, there’s a dead copper beech tree that has been allowed to stand.

I don’t know if it was an unsuitable pollard job that made the tree succumb (not blaming anyone!), but the weight was taken off likely to address the impact of giant polypore (Meripilus giganteus).

This fungus often fruits on my birthday, and it’s a really impressive species.

This specimen (expecting that it’s from one underground mycelium) is a riot of polypores.

Giant polypore damages the roots of beech trees, which is why it is such a worry for land managers and tree officers.

As you may be able to see here, this tree now also forms habitat for ganoderma brackets which will grow and grow as time goes on.

Thanks for reading.