Woolly Velvet Polypore

Onnia tomentosa

''Onnia tomentosa'' is a species of fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae commonly known as the woolly velvet polypore. It is frequently found in coniferous forests at higher altitudes, often growing in large groups, rather rare at lower altitudes. It is a plant pathogen, and causes tomentosus root rot, primarily in spruce.
Woolly Velvet Polypore (Onnia tomentosa) Growing beneath Norway Spruce and Eastern Hemlock at a forested river edge https://www.jungledragon.com/image/124051/woolly_velvet_polypore_onnia_tomentosa.html Fall,Geotagged,Onnia tomentosa,United States

Appearance

The cap is flat when young, with a blunt, rounded and yellowish-white margin, later with a slightly depressed center and contoured in a wave pattern towards the rim, which has a rather sharp edge when old. It is covered in felt that is grey when young and rusty brown when old, up to 10 cm in diameter. The stem is short and thick, dark brown to almost black. The flesh is hard and fibrous, and ochre brown under the cap surface.
Woolly Velvet Polypore - Onnia tomentosa Flat, brown, velvety cap with yellowish edges. The pores and cap bruised brown. Habitat: Growing in on the ground in a mostly coniferous forest. There were at least a dozen growing in the area. This fungus is a plant pathogen, and causes root rot, primarily in spruce. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/67686/woolly_velvet_polypore_-_onnia_tomentosa.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/67685/woolly_velvet_polypore_-_onnia_tomentosa.html Fall,Geotagged,Onnia,Onnia tomentosa,United States,fungus,mushroom,polypore,woolly velvet polypore

Naming

''Coltricia perennis'' is similar, but has a weakly circularly zoned, bare cap.
Woolly Velvet Polypore - Onnia tomentosa Flat, brown, velvety cap with yellowish edges. The pores and cap bruised brown. Habitat: Growing in on the ground in a mostly coniferous forest. There were at least a dozen growing in the area. This fungus is a plant pathogen, and causes root rot, primarily in spruce. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/67686/woolly_velvet_polypore_-_onnia_tomentosa.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/67684/woolly_velvet_polypore_-_onnia_tomentosa.html Fall,Geotagged,Onnia,Onnia tomentosa,United States,Woolly Velvet Polypore,fungus,mushroom

Uses

Most commercially important conifers in Canada, including white spruce, are attacked by ''Inonotus tomentosus'' Teng also known as ''Onnia tomentosa'' . This fungus produces a white pocket rot commonly called Tomentosus root rot in both roots and butts of naturally seeded or planted conifers. White spruce and black spruce were found to be the 2 most susceptible species in an inoculation test in Saskatchewan , and high losses to root rot, in large part due to ''I. tomentosus'', affected white spruce plantations at Grand-Mère QC . In white spruce plantations, mortality in groups of 2 or 3 trees usually occurs at about age 30–35 years , but younger trees can also be killed . Occasional trees as young as 10 years of age are infected . Seventeen white spruce plantations 43–58 years old in Ontario incurred an average of 0.7% mortality annually over a 6-year study period . Average accumulated mortality of dominant and codominant trees was 10.3% for all plantations in that study. ''Tomentosus'' root rot was found in more than half the stumps after clearcutting in a plantation at Searchmont, Ontario, but decay and stain had not yet reached stump height .

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Taxonomy
KingdomFungi
DivisionBasidiomycota
ClassAgaricomycetes
OrderHymenochaetales
FamilyHymenochaetaceae
GenusOnnia
SpeciesO. tomentosa
Photographed in
United States of America