Red Rot
A name employed to denote a decayed state of the stem in various Conifers, seldom in other trees, in which the wood becomes decayed and red, and this condition spreads gradually from place to place. The disease is of common occurrence over a great part of Europe. A careful microscopic examination of the diseased wood proves that the cells are full of an abundant mycelium of a Fungus; and Prof. Hartig has shown that the discoloration may be due to more than one Fungus, of which the more important is a species of Trametes (which see). Polyporus sulphureus (see Polyporus) has been observed to cause a similar condition in Dicotyledonous trees, e.g., Pear-trees, &c. Treatment. The whole tree, unless valuable, should be cut into firewood and destroyed. If the tree is so valuable as to render its preservation desirable, the diseased portions should be removed and burned, and the conidia ought on no account to be permitted to spread, to the injury of adjacent trees. It is not possible, in the present state of our knowledge, to destroy the mycelium without injuring the wood-cells in which it lies.