Fungi and your trees
You can find fungi everywhere! There are many different kinds and they all play a vital role in Australia’s ecosystem. Fungi do several different things in the garden: recycling leaf litter into the soil and making nutrients available to your plants, they form bonds with tree roots and assist in water absorption, some fungi are a food source for native animals and underground they are part of the natural systems that bind soil together and make it viable for plants to grow.
Most fungi that we see in the garden are recyclers that consume dead wood, leaves and other organic materials, but there are some that are less friendly to trees. In Australian gardens there are several common types of fungi that attack living trees and can eventually kill them. This is a short list, showing you what to look out for and what these fungi do to the trees they attack.
