Before Springing into Spring, One Last Trip Back to Fall

I was reading a recent article in the latest issue of the Missouri Conservationist recently and it of course got me thinking about mushrooms.

In the story The Mosaic of a Ozark Forest they discuss the composition and history of trees that they are researching are part of a life long study on the impacts of different logging practices. As they discuss the make-up of Missouri hardwoods, they mention the fact the the older groups of trees are dominated by faster growing red oaks and that the younger trees are now dominated by slower growing white oaks that can tolerate shade. It also mentioned that many of the mature red oaks that settled in after Missouri had logged all of its virgin wood were now between 80 -100 years old.

This made me realize that most red oaks have been around longer than most white oaks. That means they have had more years to get infected by the grifola fungus compared to their younger white oak counterparts. Perhaps that could explain why I tend to find many more hens around red oaks compared to white. Who really knows for sure, but it is an interesting correlation that I think is worth noting.