honey fungus
(Armillaria spp., bootlace fungus)
A wood decay fungus of the white rot type having honey-yellow toadstools with pale gills which appear in clumps in autumn. A.mellea is notable for its high pathogenicity, being able to attack and kill healthy trees by invading the cambium, while the closely related A.gallica is confined to trees dying from some other cause.
This definition is abridged from A – Z of tree terms: A companion to British arboriculture.
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