PINE DISEASES 293 



Brown Pocket Heartwood-Rot 



Caused by Fames roseus Fries 



Pines are commonly affected by this heartwood-rot. Juniper, 

 spruce, fir, larch and hemlock are also affected by the same 

 disease. In the first stages, long, cylindrical pockets of brown 

 charcoal-like wood are formed. Later the pockets may coalesce 

 and the wood is uniformly brownish and splits into cubes. 

 The fruiting-bodies of the causal fungus are either thin and 

 shelf-like or hoof-shaped. The under surface is rose-colored. 

 Further details concerning this heartwood-rot will be found 

 under juniper diseases, on page 204. 



Red-Ray Wood-Rot 



Caused by Polyporus Ellisianus (Murr.) Long 



This wood-rot of western yellow pine has recently been 

 studied in New Mexico and Arizona, where it is common in 

 suppressed and over-mature trees. It is variously known as 

 red-heart, red-rot, gray-rot and top-rot. This disease is thought 

 to have a wide distribution, since it has been found in South 

 Dakota in western yellow pine, in Vermont in white pine, and 

 the fungus is known from the states of Washington and New 

 Jersey. In many respects this decay-process resembles the 

 yellow wood-rot of locust. 



Symptoms. 



In the early stages the central core of the heartwood is par- 

 tially decayed and is reddish brown. Later, the red-brown 

 wood becomes gray or whitish and is thoroughly disintegrated 

 and easily pulled apart. At this stage it is also possible to 

 squeeze water from the decayed mass. In cross-sections of 

 affected trunks, the whitish stage is surrounded by a red-brown 

 area. Radiating from this uniformly affected area are reddish 



