r/australianplants • u/mandalorian4 • 6d ago

Weird growths on Gum branches

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My mum has this what I think is a lemon scented gum in her front yard which has these weird growths on the trunk and branches towards the canopy.

She had a lawn guy who was working on the neighbours house knock on her door and said the branches were dangerous and at risk of falling.

Any ideas what it could be? She’s making contact with a local arborist but would I’d like to get some feedback in the interim.

Thanks!

15 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13

u/Curious-Insanity413 6d ago

Did anyone else have the initial thoughts that they were creatures of some sort? Haha

7

u/MouseEmotional813 6d ago

Looked like turtles to me at first glance

1

u/Curious-Insanity413 5d ago

Yes! Exactly haha

6

u/Blackletterdragon 6d ago

Yes, some weird creature that uses bark as camouflage, but incompetently.

Or more sinisterly, a slug parasite sucking the good stuff out of the tree.

10

u/Natural-Function-597 6d ago

Looks like a weird scar where the barks getting caught instead of falling off but I don't see anything to suggest the branches would drop, have they lost any foliage and look bare?

6

u/CartographerUpbeat61 6d ago

Yes, I agree. It’ seems to be a scar .

3

u/mandalorian4 6d ago

Yeah that bit reminded me of someone sticking blu tac against the trunk! But no, no loss of foliage or anything else, just the scars.

5

u/Illustrious-Time9899 6d ago

They look like burls, worth having an arborist take a look - can be caused by a bacterial or fungal infection and other environmental stressors. If you are in an area where the PSHB is a concern, may be worth getting it checked out, local government can organise it at no cost to you for an inspection and if it is, they will cover any arbor work.

2

u/OneUpAndOneDown 6d ago

PSHB?

2

u/Illustrious-Time9899 5d ago

Sorry, the Polyphagous Shothole Borer (PSHB). It's an active biosecurity threat at the moment in Australia. It is really doing a number on our trees, and it has managed to adapt to the Australian conditions and native flora too well.

2

u/OneUpAndOneDown 5d ago

Thanks, and awwww... crap...

1

u/triemdedwiat 1d ago

UM, WA near Perth only.

3

u/mandalorian4 6d ago

Meant to add that this is in Sydney if that helps.

3

u/[deleted] 6d ago

probably scars

3

u/ti_87 6d ago

There's a chance they could be paper wasps nests

3

u/Rude_Nectarine 6d ago

Previous drop bear nests?

2

u/propargyl 6d ago

They look like scars from earlier injury.

2

u/TasteDeeCheese 6d ago

scars of past limbs

2

u/Blackletterdragon 6d ago

I hope you will tell us when you get an answer.

2

u/mandalorian4 6d ago

Thanks everyone. I’ll keep you all updated once it’s been looked at!

2

u/mandalorian4 4d ago

So my mum has just heard back (from Bob & Ben The Treemen) and they said that it looks like a successful healing of a wound.

1

u/Mind-the-Gaff 5d ago

It looks like a type of fungus to me. Maybe a type of canker disease.

1

u/Teredia 5d ago

They kind of remind me of the old Indigenous traditional act of placing a placenta in a tree. This looks like maybe even twin placenta’s… I know a lot of down south mob used to do it and some are even bringing it back. I haven’t actually ever seen it, before, but this Is reminding me of it. Perhaps worth asking on r/aboriginal to see if it actually is or not? Or maybe some other mob might see this post and confirm or not that this is what it is.

1

u/triemdedwiat 1d ago

Not a problem. Just that the old bark hasn't fallen away when it was shed.

1

u/bit1101 5d ago

Skin grafts under the NDIS.