Re: Fungus

RStarkeson@jschlesinger.com wrote:

> Your photo does not look like armillaria to me. Do a google image
> search on armillaria and you'ss see a number of photos that don't
> look like this.

> I just noticed you were talking about death in the summer. If it was
> a fungus, was more likely Phythophthora (which would also have no
> relation to the mushrooms you are finding).

Richard seems to have covered the question most adequately, but I would just like to make a general observation.

One point which needs to be understood is that fungi, which all lack chlorophyll, are not able to do what plants do and tap into sun energy, but must get their energy at second hand as animals do by digesting complex carbohydrates. In the soil they may do this by in some way tapping in to the sugars being made by the plants or they may digest actual plant tissues either live ones if they are parasites, or after they die if the are saprophytes.

In any garden where there is a woodland or shrubbery, or where any wood products such as chips or bark are brought in as mulch there are a number of mushrooms which may appear at the appropriate time of year (very commonly autumn)which are actually the fruiting bodies of some of the fungi essential to good functioning of the local ecosystem. there are two main categories of these - mycorrhizas which are fungi living in helpful association with the roots of trees and shrubs and saprophytes which feed on (recycle) decaying wood of any sort and may often be brought in with chips or bark wastes.

You can quite easily compare the different actions of this useful group of fungi and the parasitic kind to the way animal carnivores live. The actively pathogenic type like Armillaria correspond to the lions, who generally kill what they wish to eat, but are also not averse to a spot of already dead carron on the side. Saprophytes on the other hand don't kill their prey, but like, for example, vultures they clean up dead bodies and return them to circulation, making them useful (indeed essential) members of the community. I think there are probably more vultures in the world than lions. There are certainly more saprophytes among the larger fungi than there are parasites.

Moira


Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm

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