Fungus on Ailanthus
Oct. 6th, 2005 06:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanAilanthus altissima (Tree-of-heaven) is my favorite urban tree.
Native to Asia (I have seen pictures of it growing out of less-traveled parts of the Great Wall) it was brought to North America in the 19th century to help landscape city parks. Now its the most successfully naturalized urban tree. It grows out of sidewalk cracks as an innocuous weed and quickly turns into a good-sized tree. The odor that the male tree produces, to encourage flies to pollenate it, has caused the city of Washington D.C. to ban the planting of it. It has a natural resistance to pollution and seems to have few enemies or pathogens on this continent. This is the first time I've seen one with fungus growing on it.
I believe the fungus is Irpex lacteus.
Native to Asia (I have seen pictures of it growing out of less-traveled parts of the Great Wall) it was brought to North America in the 19th century to help landscape city parks. Now its the most successfully naturalized urban tree. It grows out of sidewalk cracks as an innocuous weed and quickly turns into a good-sized tree. The odor that the male tree produces, to encourage flies to pollenate it, has caused the city of Washington D.C. to ban the planting of it. It has a natural resistance to pollution and seems to have few enemies or pathogens on this continent. This is the first time I've seen one with fungus growing on it.
I believe the fungus is Irpex lacteus.
