What is this Fungi please

Golly, not seen anything like that before Amy, it's very different to the one i posted and asked about, this one reminds me of a brain :-/

Thanks for looking Louise I didn't see yours I will have to go and have a look ..

I don't know if this was what killed my Walnut tree or not !!

I'll be interested to hear what others say !

I think it is Giant Polypore which grows at the base of trees and kills the roots

I found a pic of this at this site thumb nail page 20 www.fungiworld.co.uk/browse1.htm - Armillaria sp

Pipsqueak, the pics of giant polypore do look like this:-)

There was a conversation on Gardeners Question Time about the self same thing a while ago which made me think of it

No , just looked up Honey fungus in my husbands liitle survival book and they dont look like the ones in your picture.
If needs be , this is just a suggestion check it out in your local ibrary they must have something on it in there if not try the RHS.Make sure you send a copy of the picture with your question then they will know what you are on about.I have found the RHS quite good in answering my questions.

Drc726 the thumb nail on page 20 of www. fungiworld is the same i'm sure ...

I'm panicking , HELP .. a Lilac tree has also died near the Walnut , they have a list of the most vulnerable plants and trees , lilac is on it and so is Peach , I have a lovely Peach tree near by , it had 80 beautiful Peaches on it this year ..
How far will this thing spread from the base of the dead Walnut ??
There seem to be so many different types .. Do they all do the same damage ?

No, Amy, they don't, if you're speaking of honey fungus. They come in varieties, like flu, and you don't know if you've got a virulent strain or a milder one until things start dying. If you have a dead tree stump with honey fungus, you need to remove all and any dead wood there, including roots, plus any and all other dead wood anywhere in the garden. With any luck, the one you've got is a milder strain that only largely attacks dead wood instead of going for live as well.Your photograph could be honey fungus, or it could be velvet shank - both of these have stems which are all joined together at the base, but velvet shank has dark stems at the base, and honey fungus doesn't, they're honey coloured at the base too. The ones in your picture are aging, which is why they've gone frilly and are turning up at the edges - that makes it harder to tell what they are. Check the stems, if they're still visible and not rotted away yet.

this does look like mature honey fungus , i have this in an area of my garden and i was identified for me by the rhs pathology labs.

Thank you Bamboo , you explained that very well about there being different varieties like flu it makes it easier to see why there are so many different ones ..
They are all honey coloured down to the base .
What a nuisance , Bamboo the Walnut tree was growing in a large area of concrete , obviously the previous owners had concreted round it just leaving a square where it was , which means I cant get to the dead roots , I can only try to stop it reaching other plants .
Thanks Seaburn Girl , I've looked at other pics. and it does seem to be it .:o(

i thought at first it was the end of the world but really it isnt. it is mother nature clearing up afetr herself. thankfully the variety i have is the one that moves in on diseased/old plants rather than the ones that 'attack' the plants.

the other thing is i now have to think what else i can grow. and i enjoy the challenge.

Thanks Seaburngirl , yes I must put it in perspective , look to grow what I can and not what I can't ...:o)

Blimey, that's a recipe for life, Amy! As the Americans say, if all you've got is lemons, make lemonade...

....LOL...... look on the bright side Bamboo :o)

Not my thing, looking on the bright side, am a glass is half full kind of person, so I'd say, well, if that's all there is, better get on with it then, do what I can and just crack jokes about whatever it is....

Or cry . LOL... I know what you mean though !

isnt the toadstool part the bit with the spores ie the bit that will spread.if its only on the wood and you cant dig it up what would happen if you coverd the old wood and toadstools with a heavy duty bin liner.and then maybe hide it with a plant that isnt so vulnrable for a long time .its just a thaught i dont know realy.or could you build a rockery over it .ie cover the stump with a heap of soil and stones and add plants after covering with a heavy polythene.

dont cry amy i can always build you a sculpture there lol theres always an up with a down.as they say what goes up must come down xx

I have something just like that in your pic growing around a birch tree that I felled a few years ago. There are no other trees near, just roses and herbaceous plants that are all ok.

Sadly not, Nosey - the toadstools are irrelevant and don't contribute to the spread. The real damage is done by the "bootlace" root systems, which will be at least 3 metres out from where the fruiting bodies are (toadstools).

Hello Amy, like Heron, we have fungi like this that appears at this time of year around the stump of a large ash tree, the tree was felled about 6 years ago, everything else is OK around that area. Its a real nuisance though as its messy, I usually remove a couple of barrow full loads of the stuff.

You can tell honey fungus by the slightly sweet smell of the caps.

As has been said, there is more than one type and they do look very different. To me it does look like going-over honey fungus rather than velvet shank. Which is easily identifiable because it does have a velvet shank (leg or stem) as its name implies....

I have replaced the photo with another one, we had almost broken them all down , is it any better for identification !
I,m worried Dawn as it's so close to the peach tree and on the web site I looked at peach trees are killed by Honey fungus :o(

I did smell them , I thought it was a very mushroomy smell Cestina .......I'll have another smell tomorrow !
Leigh it is as Bamboo says the bootlace root system spreads under the ground .....
Thanks for the ideas though :o)

Can't see the bases - are they joined at the base?

I should have waited until tomorrow to take a better pic. They seem to be separated Bamboo , can you just see the stalks at the very top of the pic. although when I picked a bunch up they were touching on to each other .. I'll take a better one tomorrow if they are still whole !

They are looking remarkably like honey fungus...

Fingers crossed for the peach tree Amy, you know I would feel the same.

Thanks Dawn , I will pm you when I have a little more time and my visitors have gone x :o)

I'll look forward to it Amy, when you get chance :-)

ow i see bamboo just a thaught

A new photo for you Bamboo , the stems are joined almost like a stick of celery .... the young heads are about 11/2 " across the old heads about 3"

Does this help ?

I've been reading that Honey fungus is much sort after in Italy for eating , as soon as it is in the shops it sells out !!!

I'm sure it's honey fungus and if it has black bootlaces under the soil then that is conclusive.....don't think anything else has these, hence its common name of Bootlace Fungus.

Honey fungus is edible but can upset some stomachs so care is needed and anyway I wouldn't eat anything someone has identified from a photo.....

Some books describe the smell as acidic.....

no dont eat them amy i want to be able to vissit you again lol xx

its is honey fungus and they produce a strong 'mushroom' smell. i dont have the bootlaces one so i dont get them.

What a day !! we've been digging out the old walnut tree stump which was growing in a 2ft square with concrete all round it .... it was very wet and rotten at the base , it was like trying to get a bad tooth out , we dug down to at least 2ft , removed the old stump , we couldn't get out at least one root that disappeared under the concrete , we had to leave that ....
There was no sign of anything that looked like bootlaces ... we have taken all the old soil out replaced it with new and steralised all the spades etc. that we used .....
It will be interesting to see if the same fungus pops up next year ..
This sounds like the one that you have Seaburn girl , mine has a strong mushroom smell and no bootlaces !
Don't worry Leigh .. I won't eat them , you can come over again anytime you like .. LOL...

I'm pretty sure it's honey fungus - you could dig around in the soil to find the black bootlaces (which can look like thinnish old tree roots) just to confirm it.

We dug all the soil out Bamboo , 2ft deep and dug the old tree trunk out , we couldn't see anything like that ....

be posative amy its all gonna be alright trust me xx

Ah well, don't lie awake worrying about it, just worry about the things you can change, not the things you can't. Many a gardener lives with honey fungus.

Well thanks Bamboo , I'm not going to worry anymore , with all your help and advice i've done as much as I can , I will forget about it now and hope for the best ...
I trust you Leigh , you are always right ...LOL...

i was before just got to have faith xx lol

some very bad things end up turning into very good things .it just doesnt seam like it at the time .what goes up must come down.ying and yang etc ................xx

I have faith in you Leigh , I'm sure you will be right again this time .. xx

ow thanx amy being posative is everything xx

even if i cant spell it lol xx