Is it Chaga or no? There is no sign of clinkers so I don't think this is it. Later I learned that this is not a Chaga!
THE CHAGA QUEST
1/12/06 After reading about Chaga in the BMC Bulletin, and checking the Internet to see what it looks like, I went into the park in my back yard and started looking for birch and Chaga. The first possibility I found on a large old White Birch, about 2' in diameter. It had several dark spots and knobs and in places the thick bark was missing. I cut off a piece from one 2" knob and here is what I saw
Is it Chaga or no? There is no sign of clinkers so I
don't think this is it. Later I learned that this is not a Chaga!
Below is one of the dark spots, like a
split in the bark, where the bark is missing.
Could this be a place where a Chaga once was? Wishful thinking!
Below is a similar roundish area where the
bark is missing and the outer bark pealed back.
The other tree is a Sweet Birch (aka Black
Birch), (maybe) with what
looked like a gall growing out of the tree about 10' up. I used 12x
optical zoom to get a closer look. On this day the light was bad so I went
back the next day to take the picture.
I see no clinkers but the redish brown showing through looks like a Chaga to me.
It is about 8" long by 4" wide and 4" high. Another
false alarm :o) Later I decided the tree was actually a wild cherry.
Here is a different perspective.
1/13/06 I went to Douglas State Forest and took this picture with the 12x telephoto lens. That fork was about 18' up the tree. The tree was about 15" in diameter at the base.
The top part looks like a small Chaga to me. It was to high up to harvest
so it will remain a maybe.
