sitka spruce: uses, growth, management. 19 
pear at the base of the tree, on the trunk in old wounds, or on the 
ground, coming up from decayed roots. Those on the ground have a 
short, thick stalk. The disease spreads both by spores blown about in 
the air and through the ground by means of the decayed roots. The 
decay which is confined to the heart wood is light reddish brown in 
the early stages, and pronouncedly cubical, reddish brown, crumbling 
to a fine powder between the fingers, and often with thin resinous 
crusts of mycelium in the typical stage. The rot is found in the roots 
and butt, and rarely extends beyond the first log. Besides the actual 
loss due to the volume of wood rendered unmerchantable by decay, 
the infected tree is frequently broken off at the base as a result of the 
weakening of the roots. Many large overmature trees, completely 
rotted at the base except for a thin layer of sapwood, are found broken 
off between 5 and 20 feet above ground, and their loss can be charged 
directly to the destructive work of this fungus. 
The red-belt fungus (Forties pinicola) is of equal importance with 
Poh/porus schweimtzii as a butt rot in living trees: but it is also 
common on dead snags, old windfalls, stumps, and other debris, and 
thus functions as a beneficial scavenger in the fores':. The fruiting 
bodies are usually found at the base of the tree in the flare of the roots 
or at scars along the lower portion of the trunk. The typical decay 
is light reddish-broAvn in color, somewhat cubical, crumbly and 
brittle, with white feltlike layers of mycelium occupying the cracks. 
Infection caused by this fungus is illustrated in Plate XVI, figure 1. 
One of the most common fungi found on fallen Sitka spruce, be- 
sides the red-belt fungus, is the lacquer-top fungus (Ganoderma 
ore gone use), readily recognized by the shiny, lacquerlike, reddish 
upper surface of the annual fruiting body. This organism has not 
been reported on a living spruce, but is often found on its associate, 
the hemlock. There are a number of other fungi of less importance 
which live on fallen trunks, but do not attack living trees. 
Sitka spruce is much freer from decay than either western hem- 
lock or Douglas fir, but snags and down timber decay very rapidly. 
The earliest infection appears in trees between 60 and 100 years of 
age; only a slight amount of rot is found in stands between 150 
and 300 years of age, and this is confined to the butts of trees. Over 
300 years, or after maturity, however, the tops commonly break off, 
and top rot as well as butt rot is very prevalent, becoming more 
marked with age. It is not unusual, however, to find trees of 400 
years entirely sound at the butt and with very little decay along the 
trunk or in the top. In general, this species is remarkably free from 
decay up to 200 years of age. 
The amount of resin which the wood of a tree contains, or that 
it is able to produce to cover any injury, affects its ability to ward 
off disease. Spruce, which has very little resin, is almost never able 
