Orange fungus in window frame?

[Malinda]

Greetings! I hope someone here can help; I've scoured the web and can't
find any answers.

This morning I discovered a small, bright orange, wavy looking fungus in
the bottom of a wooden window frame (between the screen and the glass).
Judging by pictures I've found on the web, it seems like it *might* be
orange peel fungus, but I can't find any reference to orange peel fungus
growing on wood -- only soil. Might it be something else? Do we need to
be concerned with doing anything other than replacing the wood?

My SO also found more of it behind a rotting fascia board above our
garage door (same side of house -- east -- if that matters). We live in
Indiana and the weather here has been cool and damp lately.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Malinda

--
It is now pitch dark. If you proceed you will likely fall into a pit.

[Stephan Helfer]

Could it be Gloeophyllum sp. (possibly sepiarium)? Yes, I would be
concerned about the soundness of my window frame.

Best wishes

Stephan Helfer
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

http://www.rbge.org.uk
========================================================
"With the destruction of each component of wild life one
more piece of evidence for human ignorance is removed."

[e.hutton]

Malinda wrote:

Three comments
1.One of my books has a fungus 'Sarcoscypha coccinea' that looks very
similar to orange peel fungus 'Aleuria aurantia' and grows on woody
debris (this is a UK and northern Europe book).
2.Rotting wood is very like soil (no doubt you have seen moss growing
on a dead log).
3.Fungi can't read :-) and occasionally don't follow the books.
--
Edwin Hutton
...Grant we beseech Thee that, ... during our journeys through the
Internet we will ... treat with charity and patience all those souls
whom we encounter. Amen.From <http://www.catholic.org/isidore>

[Malinda]

Once upon a midnight dreary, Irene Andersson pondered:

> Do they look something like this?
> http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/Serpula/dacrymyces3.htm

Yes, that might be it. It does look closer than the pictures of orange
peel fungus. Interestingly (to me, anyway), I looked in the window the
other day to find ants snipping off and carrying away pieces of the
fungus. (Nature at work! If only it weren't working in my window. :)

Thanks to all who responded. I know we have to replace the wood (and
protect the new) no matter what, but I was curious about what type of
fungus it might be. I'd never seen anything like it before.

[Eric Wilk]

Malinda <mal...@alumni.indiana.edu> wrote in message news:<bblpfn$dc0$1...@hood.uits.indiana.edu>...

> My SO also found more of it behind a rotting fascia board above our
> garage door (same side of house -- east -- if that matters). We live in
> Indiana and the weather here has been cool and damp lately.

For all it's worth (I may be stating the obvious) that mycelium
(whatever it may be) could, more than possibly, be connected,
branching to/from other parts of your house. You may want to check
for more rotting wood in other places in the house, where it may be
incubating. I would imagine in order to go from your garage to your
window frame (I'm assuming this is a relatively good distance,) there
was a fairly good-sized amount of vegetative mycelium somewhere in
order to provide the nutrition and water needed to branch out that
far.

Or maybe there was a lot in the rotting wood in the garage? I guess
it's also possible there was just a high sporeload of it in the air at
a very advantageous time, but that seems more unlikely to me.

Just my opinion.

-- Eric

[Eric Wilk]

The same mushroom growing from 2 different spots? There are a lot of
spores in the air that can grow off of rotting wood; not just that;
wouldn't that be unusual (for it to not get run over by competitors in a
different spot? Or is is just that tenatious of a strain?

Just asking because I'm curious; I'm not a Mycologist (but I've read a lot.)

-- Eric

Irene Andersson wrote:

>
> On 7 Jul 2003 09:43:22 +0100, Eric...@tufts.edu (Eric Wilk) wrote:
>
> >I guess
> >it's also possible there was just a high sporeload of it in the air at
> >a very advantageous time
>

> I don't think a high sporeload is necessary at any time. There are
> always enough spores around in the air to get the wood infested, if it
> fits the fungus (damp and unprotected).
>
> If it is what I beleive, Dacrymyces stillatus - it has become more
> common on houses lately, becase house paint and other protective
> chemicals now contain less of the protective, poisonus substances (in
> order to be less hazardous to the environment, of course...).
>
> People who have made big efforts to paint and protect their houses,
> have beleived that the paint they use, would work fine, but are now
> beginning to sue the paint producers for marketing useless products.
>
> Irene Andersson