This year two late season hurricanes devastated my woods, killing large oaks and pines. Flooding further reduced the population of trees as many stood in water for weeks that remains high today. In late September, Hurricane Ian was windy and very wet with over 20-inches of rain. A month later Hurricane Nicole was slow, windy and damp with 6-inches more rain.
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Both storms toppled trees and left my woods and gardens a soggy mess.
On the trees that have died an assemblage of fungi have appeared a couple weeks after the last hurricane. Here I've assembled some photos of a beautiful colony of golden-brown Stereaceae Fungi. I am not a mycologist. My best guess is that these are Stereaceae and may be Stereum hirsutum.
Stereaceae in Florida are generally referred to as "Crusts fungi." Crusts are a family of fungi that are all saprophytic on dead wood or leaf litter. They get sustenance by decomposing the wood. Different species can grow flat to the wood surface or rise from the surface in fan shapes. Here we see both; flat on the wood and fan shaped. In Florida they range from dark brown to bright orange.
To me this colony of fungi appear to be a golden-brown color that kind of glows, reflecting the low winter sun in their fans. They are growing on a 10-year old oak that was smashed by a 40-foot tall long-needle pine tree, and then flooded. Oaks do not like being in standing water for long. Older oaks do better than juveniles like the one pictured here. Younger oaks may die after only a couple weeks in standing water.
Whatever killed this oak, blunt force trauma or drowning, the tree quickly died after Hurricane Ian so it has had 6 weeks to start to decompose in often damp weather. The result is this lovely and unusual assemblage of fungi.
This image is from Cam Mannino's website: Natural Areas Notebook. I came across the image while trying to identify my fungi and thought it was a really nice representation of the fungi. She writes of this scene,
"The fallen log picture above hosted undoubtedly the most beautiful assemblage of mushrooms I’ve ever come across on my hikes. Violet Polypore Mushrooms (Trichaptum biforme) stepped delicately down the side of this log while orange shelf/leaf fungi (genus Stereum) formed ruffles across the surface. Down at the bottom edge, a white Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae) paused to either nibble a bit – or just enjoy the artistry along with me. This tableau captured me so completely that I just sat down on a nearby log to appreciate it for several minutes."
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