Actually this is not a rare event. I have seen this many many times in beech forests both in Europe and the US. The right answer is in botany/ plant physiology books. This is a form of epicormic growth. I was curious about this myself too and, being pathologist, opened up several such "bumps" to find whats happening. Never found any insect involvement.


Yilmaz Balci
Assistant Professor

University of Maryland
Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
2114 Plant Sciences
College Park, MD
phone: 301 405 9744
email: ybalci@umd.edu
From: rg70200-forpath-bounces@lists.iufro.org [rg70200-forpath-bounces@lists.iufro.org] on behalf of Mmbaga, Margaret [mmmbaga@Tnstate.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 12:15 PM
To: McLaughlin, John (MNR); Bonello, Pierluigi; forpath
Subject: Re: [IUFRO RG 7.02 FORPATH] Bumps on Beech

Our Entomologist think they could be  from an insect. A good way to possible check would be to cut them open and see if there are insect adults or larvae inside the structures. One of these photo images indicated it was Patagonia gall, which is apparently common on southern beech trees. This one website (http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/lagerYeast11.html) suggests it maybe a yeast and not insect. Again, if insect in origin, I would think there would be some evidence of insects (eggs, larvae, or adults) inside the galls. Hope this helps.

 

Margaret T. Mmbaga, PhD.

Research Professor, Tennessee State University,

College of Agriculture, Otis Floyd Research Center

472 Cadillac Lane

McMinnville TN 37110  USA

Tel: (931) 815-5143

Fax:  (931) 668-3134

Email: mmmbaga@tnstate.edu

 
From: rg70200-forpath-bounces@lists.iufro.org [rg70200-forpath-bounces@lists.iufro.org] On Behalf Of McLaughlin, John (MNR) [john.mclaughlin@ontario.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:56 AM
To: Bonello, Pierluigi; forpath
Subject: Re: [IUFRO RG 7.02 FORPATH] Bumps on Beech

Hello Enrico,

   Last year I found somewhat similar growths on beech here in Ontario. I had never noticed such things before so I took some photos. I suspected that they were responses to some kind of insect attack, but I did not pursue it any further, e.g. by dissections or isolations. I wonder of these share the same cause as the ones you posted?

 

Best regards,

 

John

 

John A. McLaughlin, PhD

Forest Research Pathologist

Ontario Forest Research Institute

1235 Queen St. E.

Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Canada

P6A 2E5

tel: +1 705-946-7419

cell: 705-542-2851

John.McLaughlin@ontario.ca

http://ontario.ca/ofri

 

 

 

From: rg70200-forpath-bounces@lists.iufro.org [mailto:rg70200-forpath-bounces@lists.iufro.org] On Behalf Of Bonello, Pierluigi
Sent: 28-Jan-13 13:17
To: forpath
Subject: [IUFRO RG 7.02 FORPATH] FW: Bumps on Beech

 

Dear colleagues,

 

I received these photos from one of my forest pathology students and I must admit I've never seen these things before.  Can anyone help?

 

Thanks!

 

Enrico

 

Pierluigi (Enrico) Bonello, Professor

 

Dept. of Plant Pathology

The Ohio State University

Tel: (614) 688-5401

 

Would you like to support my program to foster research on woody plant health with a tax-deductible charitable donation?  Click here!

 

From: Diana Saintignon <saintignon.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu>
Date: Monday, January 28, 2013 12:41 PM
To: "Showalter, David N." <showalter.53@osu.edu>, Pierluigi Bonello <bonello.2@osu.edu>, Dan Herms <herms.2@osu.edu>
Subject: Bumps on Beech

 

While I was at Harvard I found this beech tree with some interesting wart-like mounds on its bark. Is this normal for some beeches, or could it potentially be a paper topic? Do you know what it is?

Thanks!
-Diana