The biology of Flammula alnicola (Fr.) Kummer ...

• Main Author: Denyer, Walter Bruce Glenn
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2012
• Subjects: Slave Lake
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0106405; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0106405

Flammula alnicola (Fr.) Kummer, formerly called Flammula conissans Fr. sensu Ricken causes a yellow stringy butt rot of several conifers in Western Canada. It is usually of infrequent occurrence in conifers, but was found to be the most important butt rot of white spruce in the Smith - Slave Lake area of Alberta. An investigation was conducted to gain information on the biology of the fungus. The decay has a characteristic pattern caused through preference of the fungus for wood rays and early spring wood. A musty odor in decay and cultures is characteristic. The fungus invades white spruce through pressure wounds caused by root contacts but evidently does not invade recently formed wounds. The average linear rate of decay was one inch per year in two-year-old artificial infections but probably less in natural infections. The fungus decayed blocks of root and stem wood, and blocks of light and heavy density wood, slowly, but at similar rates. The occurrence of the decay was related to good sites, and ...