A very decayed oak monolith

Very near to where I was earlier today, I spotted this oak monolith. Clearly very significantly decayed, most of the structure is now void of bark and the central butt region is completely hollow. On one of the sections that has retained bark at the base, I spotted what may have been a site where sporophores of the fungus Pseudoinonotus dryadeus has been – in the second image, we can see some small black fungal remnants, and one segment of a bracket is wedged into the ground very close by (as shown in the third image). Whether the fungus had colonised before the oak was monolithed or after I could not say (assuming it is indeed Pseudoinonotus dryadeus), though if it colonised before (which is likely) then that may explain why it was monolithed.

The monolith in all its glory.

The small black marks appear to be sites where old fungal brackets sat. I suspect that these may have been Pseudoinonotus dryadeus.

The remnants of one bracket can be found within 20cm of the tree. The brackets of Pseudoinonotus dryadeus persist in a hardened and blackened state (long, at times) after falling from the tree. This section of fungal sporophore therefore has the markings of such a species.