#phellinus

Spotted by @purrdence​ while she was looking at Lord of the Rings locations.

AKA Polyporus zealandicus, Fomes robinsoniae,Trametes wahlbergii, Phellinus setulosus, Poria uncinat, Fomes senex var. hamatus, Poria victoria, Phellinus pomaceus, Fuscoporia uncinata, Fomes hamatus, Phellinus zealandicus, Fomes pomaceus, Polyporus victoriae, Scindalma zealandicum, Phellinus senex var. hamatus, Phellinus wahlbergii, Pyropolyporus robinsoniae and Fomes zealandicus. Some of that is no doubt due to genera being split up or renamed, but I suspect a good deal of it is due to mycologists discovering that what they thought were different species, scattered worldwide, were all the same thing. Pyropolyporus robinsoniae, for example, was only known from a single  decaying tree in Jamaica.

That said, it has been showing up well outside its previous range in recent decades - Buckinghamshire in the UK for example, when its nearest known site was in the Canary Islands. It’s not clear why it’s only spreading now, but in the case of the UK sighting mentioned above, the fungus remains so rare and scattered that the spores probably blew in (possibly on dust from the Sahara) rather then arriving as an existing infection in an exotic plant or timber, and found the warmer weather to its liking.

This was growing on a tree in the picnic area at Bibra Lake. It was on  Eucalypt, but I've also seen them on Casuarinas and IIRC, Peppermint Trees (Agonis flexuosa), each time growing from exposed dead heartwood. I don't know know if that's ALWAYS the case, though.  Somebody had broken it off - god knows why. It may have been genuine curiosity, or petty vandalism. Either way, it probably wasn't easy - this bracket fungus is very woody in texture. Intact, it would have looked like this.

Or like this.

I gather it used to be called Phellinus robustus. I don't know why the upper, older layers are so cracked and weathered, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's something to do with the harsh sunlight down here (and them all being on the exposed northern sides of trees probably didn't help). Certainly, photos of the same and related species from the northern hemisphere aren’t nearly as ragged.

Phellinus hartigii

Phellinus hartigii (Hymenochaetales - Hymenochaetaceae) is a species of fungus distributed in mainland Europe. It also has been recorded in the United States (Washington state), Georgia (country), and Japan.

References: [1] - [2]

Photo credit: ©Erminio Ferrari

Old men with cracked heads

Silent in congregation