September 26th, 2006
one big conk
Back on June 5th, I wrote about visiting a maple snag at Baird Woods that hosts a number of Artists Conk fungi (Ganoderma applanatum). Recently, we stopped to visit the snag and see how the fungus brackets are looking. As may be seen in the above photo, one of the brackets has become exceedingly large. That particular bracket has an interesting history. It’s been there for awhile, but has been damaged a couple of times and lost big chunks — I’m pretty sure as a result of someone standing atop it. However, each time a piece has been knocked off, the bracket has begun to regrow and envelope the existing piece with the new growth which is white compared to the older brown sections. Later in the autumn, the entire bracket becomes uniformly brown. In such a way, this particular bracket seems to keep enlarging, while others on the snag and on a nearby tree seem to grow large and then begin to decay. I can only conclude the the “damage” from having parts broken away, seems to actually benefit this bracket, causing it to grow even larger.