Buckeye Branch Bumps
18 November 2017, Columbia California.
I realized that there is a growth anomaly on one of the buckeyes, and it was the buckeye that had the most pronounced fungal bodies of Eutypella. The branches of this buckeye has lots of bumps on them. The other buckeyes do not seem to have this problem.
Photos of the bumpy buckeye are at the top. Photos of a normal buckey are lower down on the page. Click an image to enlarge it.
The buckeye with the bumps on the branches
Bumps on branch of buckeye. A valley oak is behind the buckeye.
Bumps on buckeye branches.
bumps on buckeye
bumps on buckeye
bumps on buckeye
bumps on buckeye
bumps on buckeye
A normal buckeye, without bumps on the branches.
Closeup of a normal, bump-less buckeye.
Normal buckeye
Normal buckeye
Leaf Fungus on Buckeyes along Parrotts Ferry Road
A survey of buckeyes along Parrotts Ferry Road, as it heads down the canyon, also show that the buckeyes are experiencing a sort of leaf and branch dieback. Photos 27 May 2017.
See also the post on the Stockton Road buckeyes, showing the same ailment.
Click to enlarge.
Buckeye along Parrotts Ferry Road. It too shows the leaf dieback.
detail of the leaf dieback.
The same leaf fading and dieback.
Another buckeye showing leaf fade and dieback.
Detail of leaf fading. My fingers are behind the leaves.
more leaf fade and death
detail of leaf dieback
This buckeye too shows spots of leaf dieback.
A spot where a branch is dieing.
buckeye leaf dieback
buckeye leaf dieback
buckeye leaf dieback
leaves showing possible fungus
leaf spst
Leaf Fungus on Buckeyes Along Stockton Road, Sonora
These images show the buckeyes along Stockton Road, across from Save Mart, in Sonora. They too show the spotty dieback of whole branches, and the apparent leaf fungus problems. 27 May 2017.
Buckeyes along Stockton Road, from afar, show a couple of large spots of branch dieback. 27 May 2017.
Close-up of the above photo, showing the larger dieback spots, easily seen from a distance. Up closer examination reveals more, smaller areas.
Dieback of branches on California buckeyes.
Leaf and branch dieback on California buckeye, along Stockton Road, Sonora, 27 May 2017.
leaf details
leaf details
Lear details
leaf details
Lear details
leaf dieback
leaf details
leaf details
More photos of the ?leaf fungus?
22 May 2017, Columbia Ca.
Click to enlarge.
Leaf Fungus on California Buckeye
A few branches and leaves on the California Buckeye, known to have Eutypella are showing some, assumed, fungal dieback.
Images taken 30 April and 1 May 2017.
Photo showing the overall appearance of the buckeyes.
There is an affected branch in the center area.
Fading on some leaves.
Closeup showing dieback in a couple of spots on the primary tree.
Dieback visible here.
Leaves showing distorted growth.
Dieback areas
The fungus Eutypella aesculina on dead branches of the California Buckeye
While removing dead branches from some California buckeye trees near Columbia California, in December of 2016, I noticed many of these dead branches were covered with small black, dot-sized protrusions. Examining the spots under a microscope revealed that these things were some sort of fungus. I sent samples to Dr. Suzanne Rooney Latham, Senior Plant Pathologist at the Plant Pest Diagnostics Lab of the Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services section of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Dr. Latham reported, on 30 January 2017, that the fungus is probably Eutypella aesculina. See Mycobank and this GBIF site.
This fungus was originally collected in 1893 by W.C. Blasdale, [see also this UNC page] in Berkeley California, on, of all things, dead branches of the California buckeye, Aesculus californica, the same species as our samples were from. This is the historical reference. It appears that Blasdale’s specimens were then described by Ellis and Everhart: Eutypella aesculina Ellis & Everhart. (1893). Ellis assigned it the species name ‘aesculina‘ from the genus name of the California buckeye, ‘Aesculus‘.
As there are no other host records for Eutypella aesculina in the mycological databases, other than California buckeye, it may well be that this fungus, Eutypella aesculina, is a specialist on California buckeye.
This site lists other species of Eutypella. Notice there are no photos listed for aesculina; it is rarely recorded. We have photos here.
The fungus is causing no obvious damage to the buckeyes; the trees are very healthy, and the fungal bodies are only seen on dead branches.
Thanks to Dr. Suzanne Latham for the great identification, and sharing information and the high power photo of the fungus’s allantoid (sausage-shaped) ascospores.
Click on an image to enlarge it.
Allantoid ascospores of Eutypella aesculina. Photo courtesy of Dr. Suzanne Latham.
Some of the buckeye trees examined.
A small buckeye branch next to a ruler to show the size of Eutypella aesculina
Close-up of the fungus Eutypella aesculina.
You can see that the fungus emerging from under the outer bark.
You can see that the fungus Eutypella aesculina emerged from under the outer bark.
Closeup showing detail of the fungus Eutypella aesculina.
Closeup showing detail of the fungus.
First of a series of images showing Eutypella aesculina, starting from the top.
Second in the series, showing UNDER the protrusion. You can see that the circumference has a black line of demarcation.
Third in the series shows the branch directly under the protrusion, and the black line marks its perimeter.
Fourth in the series, is a close-up of the underlying branch, the black line being the outer limit of the protrusion.
Fifth in the series, shows the inside of the black protrusion.
Sixth, shows a close-up of the interior of Eutypella aesculina. It is hollow.