Is Auricularia judae parasitic?

Garry Brockley

Just a quick question,
i was called to a Jacaranda that "suddenly" died on one half i put suddenly in brackets because people always say that "the leaves just dropped off all of a sudden" or " that six foot rotten hole in the side just appeared last week".

Anyway upon inspection one half of the Jacaranda was dieing back and had these fruiting bodies on them I believe them to be Auricularia Aurculiajudae or jews ear.

my question is, is it parasitic Saprotrophic or Endosymbiotic?
i believe it only grows on rotting wood and doesn't affect the live wood directly but can anyone confirm or deny this?
The tree is ten years old, four meters high and has 50% leaf coverage on 50%of the tree so not looking healthy, it is tri-trunkated and from what i can gather from the owners the level was changed five years ago when the landscapers came in.
i have excavated around the trunk as much as they would allow but im still not happy with the level! but hey you have to come to some compromises with customers.
The cuts you can see are from two rotting branches that i felt needed removing for the health of the tree.

Attached Thumbnails

       

__________________

Eric Frei

Covered here since 2008.

__________________

Garry Brockley

Thanks eric! there's not much that isn't covered on this forum

__________________

Eric Frei

LOL, you even posted in that thread in 2008.

__________________