VIEW ARTICLE

Mapping Columns of Discolored and Decayed Tissues in Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum. Alex L. Shigo, Principal Mycologist, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service, USDA, Durham, New Hampshire 03824; Edward M. Sharon, Assistant Plant Pathologist, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service, USDA, Durham, New Hampshire 03824. Phytopathology 60:232-237. Accepted for publication 2 September 1969. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-232.

Discolored and decayed wood associated with 8-year-old inoculations with Fomes fomentarius and F. connatus in trunks of 10 Acer saccharum trees showed a basic pattern of physical changes and microbial succession. Moisture, pH, and ash increased as tissues died, discolored, and decayed. Bacteria and nonhymenomycetous fungi were found in distal portions of the columns, consistently in advance of the Hymenomycetes. In decay tests, Fomes igniarius, Polyporus glomeratus, and Pholiota sp. reduced the wt of only those wood samples that were already decayed in the living tree. Polyporus versicolor decayed most of the samples to some extent.