TABLE IX. Fungi Commonly Associated with Root Rots on Hardwood Trees in Florida

Ganoderma spp.: The cause of Ganoderma Root Rot. Common on a variety of hardwoods, particularly oaks. Sporophores produced at various times, but commonly around May. Sporophores typically near base of diseased or dead trees, stalked or nonstalked and tough, usually with a yellow to red-brown, lacquered upper surface, white and porous beneath when fresh. Immature sporophores appear as white to yellow knobs. PHOTO 1: Fresh young (immature) sporophore of a Ganoderma sp. at the base of an infected oak. Note pure white cap and yellowish stalk. PHOTO 2: Shiny, mahogany-red bracket-like (non-stalked) conks of a Ganoderma sp. at the base of an infected American Beech. Note injury to base of tree at right.

Polyporus spp.: The cause of various Root and Butt Rots. Common on several hardwoods. Sporophores variously colored and shaped, porous on the undersurface, often attached as brackets to the base of diseased trees. PHOTO: Typical bracket-like conks of a hardwood root and butt rot fungus (Polyporus ludovicianus) at the base of an oak. Blue-green flake-like plants on bark are lichens.

Armillariella tabescens (formerly, Ciltocybe tabescens): The cause of Mushroom Root Rot. Common on a variety of hardwoods. Sporophores produced at various times, but most commonly in the fall. Sporophores fleshy and short-lived, light brown to tan in color with gills beneath, produced in clusters from a common base at or near diseased or dead trees. Characteristic mats of fungus tissue often produced beneath the bark of infected roots and tree bases, mats frequently perforated. See Table VII. Fungi Associated with Sand Pine Root Disease in Florida < PHOTO: Typical mushroom cluster of Armillariella tabescens at the base of an infected oak.

Endothia gyrosa: More typically a Branch or Twig Canker Fungus. However, commonly observed on oak roots at soil surface when lawn mower or other damage is prevalent. Typically appears as clusters of small (about 1 mm) orange-red warts in or on bark tissues or near wounded portions of roots. PHOTO: Minute reddish-orange fruiting bodies of Endothia gyrosa, a common twig and branch canker fungus that frequently infects oak roots damaged by lawn mowers or other mechanical agents.