Environment | Old trees cut down downtown

The Times received information from readers yesterday that at least two trees in front of the Portuguese School in Avenida Infante D. Henrique had been cut down by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM).

Likely taken on Monday, a video clip posted on social media by a reader showed workers wearing IAM t-shirts cutting down a large tree in front of the main entrance of the Portuguese School. The tree trunks were moved onto an IAM truck next to the sidewalk.

A photo posted by another reader showed that workers from the bureau were trimming a smaller tree on the same road.

The readers wanted to know on what grounds the IAM had decided to remove these trees. They justified their question by noting the time these trees had been standing and the number of typhoons that they had stood against.

The Times asked the IAM for clarification but received no response by press time.

Upon being shown photos of the tree stump, environmentalist Joe Chan told the Times that the tree had likely been infected with a fungus.

“It seems to be a Mock Peepul or Mock Bodhi tree of more than 70 years of age. It is very likely to have been suffering from brown root rot disease, which is also known as the tree cancer. This disease is very strong and complete cure is difficult,” Chan said.

Regarding disease prevention measures, Chan said that it could be done by spraying medicine into the tree trunk. “However, because complete cure is difficult and this disease is highly infectious, both prevention and cure are hard,” Chan said.

He noted that the disease was especially active in spring and summer.

The culprit that causes brown root rot disease is fungal pathogen Phellinus noxius, which is a white rot fungus. Trees infected by the fungus can deteriorate quickly in health and structure. Channels of spread include root contact and contaminated soil and water. In some conditions, it may also spread by air.

To conclude, Chan said the cutting of the tree might have been inevitable. Staff reporter