Perenniporia sp.

Description:

Fungal masses, 4-6 inches across and 1.5-2 inches thick; pale cream in color when young, darkening to tan with age. Texture tough, corky. Pore surface not clearly exposed under growth mass, only visible in cross-section. Firmly attached to wood substrate. Within a few days, infected with patches of pink (possibly bacteria/fungus) that appears to turn black within a short time: visible in pics #2, #3.

Habitat:

Growing at the base of Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) stumps approximately 1 year after the trees were cut. Trees were in a small area of a ‘self-seeded’ pine woods that had grown in an open, dry meadow on the top of a ridge above a small year-round creek.

Notes:

Possibly Perenniporia subacida, a species known to occur on conifers, usually spruce, but also on larches and pines. In the temperate zone, balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill) trees growing on dry sites are gradually invaded by a root and butt fungus Perenniporia subacida (Peck) Donk. This pathogen does not usually kill trees, but it reduces their mechanical wind firmness. Wind-throw in mature stands creates large canopy gaps that help in the regeneration of other conifer species (Boulet 2003). https://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/34...