Cheryl's News from Camp
Webegone
*A tree that falls of its own volition is known as a downed tree.
A tree that is cut or sawn down is called a felled tree.
*A tree that falls of its own volition is known as a downed tree.
A tree that is cut or sawn down is called a felled tree.
Downed or felled trees become logs when they are sawed into smaller sections.
Thanks to the Prospect librarian, who comes from many generations of loggers, for the answer to this question.
About 9 PM, as I am putting away the outdoor kitchen, I hear the unmistakable crack, crackle, creak, crack sounds of a tree in the process of falling. The noise is loud and close.
I freeze.
Looking up to scan the tree tops for movement, praying that I don't see
any. Praying that the tree is not going to fall into our camp.
Big THUMP! The ground
vibrates.
But, whew! It wasn't a tree near our camp. Still obviously somewhere close, though.
Rich and I jump on our bikes and go in search of the downed tree, very much hoping
all camps and campers are okay.
Everyone was. As it turned out, the tree
fell across the road, I estimate about 200 yards from our camp. It didn't hit anything. The prevailing emotion of the campers is excitement mixed with relief
that everyone is okay.
Forest Service personnel aptly call it a “cow pie” conk.
I did a little googling. Looks like the fungus is Phaeolus schweinitzii. What a shame that it is killing trees.
ReplyDeleteOne of the articles says this: “It’s in late summer or early autumn that the presence of velvet top fungus is usually first noticed, for it is then that its fruiting bodies appear, most often on the ground and within a short distance of the trunk of a white pine or spruce.”
Another says “usually found near the base of the tree's trunk, appearing terrestrial. It has a velvety, brown to olive cap and, when young, a strikingly yellow or orange, brown-bruising pore surface and margin. The pores are angular and fairly large, and the fairly thin, flexible flesh is brown to reddish brown. With age the mushroom's colors are more boring and brown, but the pore surface usually retains a greenish hue.”
Do you remember when we took the walk from the big tree back to natural bridge and saw a fruiting body? It looked like it was growing out of the ground, from dead wood (not a live tree), but apparently that appearance was deceiving. I wonder if it would help if you noted the locations of fruiting bodies that you spot and inform your supervisor. The forest service could then look at nearby trees to see if they can determine which may be perilously weak.
Here are some references.
https://www.google.com/search?q=phaeolus+schweinitzii&biw=1347&bih=978&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=uiGhVYijAombgwT0nreABA&sqi=2&ved=0CIIBEIke&dpr=0.95
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/phaeolus_schweinitzii.html
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_025744.pdf
http://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/node/3168/print
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5347109.pdf
http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/velvet_top_fungus_phaeolus_schweinitzii