Talk:Fomes fomentarius

Fomes fomentarius was a Natural sciences good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 3, 2011	Good article nominee	Not listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on September 19, 2010.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that the 5,000 year-old Ötzi the Iceman was carrying four pieces of Hoof Fungus (modern specimen pictured) when he was found?

Suggestions

I'm not sure about a GAR but I've got a few comments:

"is a species of plant pathogen polypore" in the lead doesn't sound right to me, should plant pathogen and polypore be rearranged or split in to separate sentences?
I've rephrased. J Milburn (talk) 14:11, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, that's better, I added fungal in front of plant pathogen just to make it entirely clear what it is as a first sentence should. SmartSE (talk) 15:10, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
There are papers discussing how it attracts insects e.g. which could be mentioned in the ecology section.
This paper (in French unfortunately) discusses historical uses for the fungus. You mention it has medicinal uses in the lead, but I can't find anything in the article, google scholar has a lot of primary references discussing medical usage, can you find any other reviews?
The medicinal usage I referred to in the lead is in reference to the usage in dentistry I discuss further down. I admit, there are more, and there is need for a little expansion in that area; in the long term, I'm hoping to push towards FAC with this article. J Milburn (talk) 14:11, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ah ok, I kind of skimmed over that. Looking at the GAC I guess you don't need to include more details yet, although it would be nice :) SmartSE (talk) 15:10, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Can you explain more about the interaction with beech bark disease? At the moment it's a bit unclear.
Is that better? J Milburn (talk) 14:17, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but maybe that belongs in ecology rather than uses and importance. SmartSE (talk) 15:10, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I know, Bacillus and E. coli will naturally be found in all soils. Is the reference discussing it as a way of dealing with pathogenic strains?
I don't have access to that source any more, annoyingly. I admit it doesn't really fit in; do you think it should be removed? J Milburn (talk) 14:20, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
That might be best, I've had a look for papers discussing mycoremediation with this species but can't find anything. I did a fair bit of reading about mycoremediation last year and to be honest I think this probably applies to most fungi anyway since fungi + bacteria have obviously been "at war" for eons. The source looks like an interesting read though. SmartSE (talk) 15:10, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hope this helps. SmartSE (talk) 13:28, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Round two

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is a pretty common fungus since it's one of the few I've met on here that I recognise from wandering around woods. If this is the case, can you find a source and mention it in distribution?
Well spotted, done. There may be something to be said about it becoming more common in recent years, I'll have to have a look for sources on that. J Milburn (talk) 17:55, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Should the fact it only infects dead or damaged trees be mentioned in the habitat and distribution section?
In the Amadou section you use trama, this isn't a widely known term so can you explain it in more words, maybe linking to trama (mycology)?
Done. J Milburn (talk) 18:04, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Completely irrelevant, but if you still have the source, can you add a section to Pollen#Nutrition (a section I added) about it feeding on pollen? From what I can work out from a quick search, this isn't a trait that has been shown in many (any) other fungi. SmartSE (talk) 15:10, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I don't still have access to the source; Google Books isn't letting me view that page any more. I remember writing about it though; I'll add it anyways. J Milburn (talk) 17:58, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

thought

I dont know about calling it a pathogen. These fungi are not biotrophs (like a rusts) and they do not activly kill plant tissues (like potato blight) either; they simply grow on, in and through woody dead plant material. They may have an impact on the structual integrity of a large plant, but they are not themselves the cause of death. I mean, they only grow on already dead plant material.

Economic relevance biotech

I was wondering if it might be relevant to add a section on the economic significance in relation to the use of it in biotech, as a source of biobased materials. See for example the article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40694-022-00133-y which discusses this. FieldsBob (talk) 09:19, 3 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Please feel free to add this! Josh Milburn (talk) 10:32, 3 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]