The tree may be attacked by white root rot (Fomes), which makes the roots rot.    From Wordnik.com.  [Chapter 5] Reference

Sandan is very susceptible to heart rot (Fomes caryopnhylla), buff brown pocket rot (Polystictus nilgheriensis) and white spongy rot.    From Wordnik.com.  [Chapter 10] Reference

Another fungal growth is associated with the white birch: Fomes fomentarius, the bracket or shelf fungus used as punk, tinder, touchwood, wick for thousands of years, perhaps even before 10,000 B.C.    From Wordnik.com.  [VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VIII No 2] Reference

There may be two reasons for this: first, a fresh mushroom when crushed or pressed becomes a soft mucoid mass; the second could be an ancient connection between Fomes fomentarius and the fly agaric, which, if improperly prepared and then ingested, might lead to the same sort of frenzied, hyperactive behavior observed in botfly-infested animals.    From Wordnik.com.  [VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VIII No 2] Reference

Fomes?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition] Reference

Fomes (Fo'mes), 193, 194.    From Wordnik.com.  [Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc.] Reference