236 



Bulletin 193. 



The tree was felled in order to see if there was a corresponding^ 

 asymmetry in the annual growth of the trunk wiiich might be mani- 

 fest in the excentric position of the annual rings. Before cutting 

 the tree down there was no evidence tliat it was diseased. The 

 trunk to all external appearance was sound. There were no broken 

 limbs, no wounds, visible. On cutting the trunk into sections to 

 study the annual rings, the heart wood through a large jmrt of the 

 trunk presented unmistakable evidences of pai'tial decay following 



many of the annual 

 rings and along by the 

 niedullarv ravs. The 

 wood in these areas 

 was being disoi'ganized 

 by the mycelium, and 

 the latter formincr the 

 incipient stages of 

 punk. 



The case was an in- 

 teresting one since the 

 question arose as to how 

 the funo'us, now com- 

 pletely imprisoned, 

 gained entrance to the 

 trunk. The butt was 

 sound so the fungus 

 could not have entered through the roots. Perhaps it entered at 

 a large branch broken a nund)er of years ago and now completely 

 healed over. 



All of the sections showed more or less decay at the central 

 core of the lieart wood where some of the wood was so badly 

 decayed in some sections as to break out or crumble from tlie 

 friction of the saw. One of the sections not far from the base of 

 the trunk presented on the lower end, and near the periphery, a 

 circular black area, resembling the dead remnant of a branch which 

 might have broken off years ago, and healed over. On the surface 

 of the same side of this section was a prominent enlargement in 

 the trunk, resulting from the healing j^rocess. But the evidence 



67. — Section of living oak icitli imprisoned mycelium 

 of the bulphur 2^olyporus. 



