Identification needed please

[brooklynodog]

On our recent holiday to the Scottish highlands, we were concerned with the amount of parasite growing predominantly on conifers, but also the birch trees. I will try and attach a picture, but in case I fail, it is a green hanging net like parasitic growth that appears to kill foliage, and if left kill the host tree eventually. I have Googled it without success. thanks. P

[Alice]

Hope you can post that pic Brroklynodog. Sounds awful. I've never seen anything like that round here or in the Highlands.

[lynda66]

maybe its some kind of alien slime?

[Two_Sheds]

Sounds like a gall. Hang on, I'll have a google.

[Two_Sheds]

Could it be Witches Broom fungus? (Taphrina betulina). we've got that in our local park, it looks like birds nests.

[brooklynodog]

Hi two sheds, I found that as well, and no its not. Its green and hangs like a veil, rather than bunching like the witches broom. We saw whole trees dead by it, as it kills off the foliage and so without leaves to transpire the tree dies. I cant seem to post a picture though.

[vicky]

Scotland's lichen diversity

It sounds more like a typre of lichen to me, they grow well in Scotland as the air in unpolluted. They don't kill trees though, they take all their nutrients from the air and grow in the dark, damp areas on the underside of trees away from sunlight.

[brooklynodog]

Yes Vicky, found it, Bryoria spp its called. The article states that it is not parasitic, but symbiotic, but we saw large trees apparently denuded of leaves because of the invasive nature of the lichen. Very interesting though, will try loading a picture again

[Two_Sheds]

Ah! I was Googling 'parasite' not 'lichen'

[Two_Sheds]

Lichens don't need soil - they can grow on bare rock and on branches at the tops of trees. They capture the nutrients they need to live and grow from the atmosphere.

lichen epiphytes don't harm the trees on which they grow, they (get) the nutrients they need from the atmosphere.
Old-growth lichens have disappeared from many parts of Europe; however, Scotland has some of the best examples of old-growth woodland in Europe. scotlands-lichens

[Finedon.Dandy]

Would an air plant or some of those orchids also be a lichen then?

[Two_Sheds]

Would an air plant or some of those orchids also be a lichen then?

Nope.

But they'd all (air plant, lichen, orchid) be ephiphytes. An epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant without feeding off it, ie not parasitic.

It's complicated ... I've been trying to read this link for ages, but Mr Sheds and Little Miss Sheds keep interrupting me : Epiphyte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[brooklynodog]

I think maybe that the contention that lichens dont harm the host may need looking at. We definately saw trees (pines and birch) completely denuded of leaves and hence dead because of the sheer amount of lichen growing on them. In support of it however, we even saw it growing on fence posts!

[Two_Sheds]

I think maybe that the contention that lichens dont harm the host may need looking at. We definately saw trees (pines and birch) completely denuded of leaves and hence dead because of the sheer amount of lichen growing on them.

perhaps the lichen thrived because the trees were already defoliated?

[brooklynodog]

Ah, thats a distinct possibility now I think about it. Although the lichen was on most trees, it was far worse on dead ones, I assumed as a result of the lichen, maybe not then?