Armillaria possesses several intriguing characteristics that have inspired wide interest in understanding phylogenetic relationships within and among species of this genus. Nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence-based analyses of Armillaria provide only limited information for phylogenetic studies among widely divergent taxa. More recent studies have shown that translation elongation factor 1-α (tef1) sequences are highly informative for phylogenetic analysis of Armillaria species within diverse global regions. This study used Neighbor-net and coalescence-based Bayesian analyses to examine phylogenetic relationships of newly determined and existing tef1 sequences derived from diverse Armillaria species from across the Northern Hemisphere, with Southern Hemisphere Armillaria species included for reference. Based on the Bayesian analysis of tef1 sequences, Armillaria species from the Northern Hemisphere are generally contained within the following four superclades, which are named according to the specific epithet of the most frequently cited species within the superclade: (i) Socialis/Tabescens (exannulate) superclade including Eurasian A. ectypa, North American A. socialis (A. tabescens), and Eurasian A. socialis (A. tabescens) clades; (ii) Mellea superclade including undescribed annulate North American Armillaria sp. (Mexico) and four separate clades of A. mellea (Europe and Iran, eastern Asia, and two groups from North America); (iii) Gallica superclade including Armillaria Nag E (Japan), multiple clades of A. gallica (Asia and Europe), A. calvescens (eastern North America), A. cepistipes (North America), A. altimontana (western USA), A. nabsnona (North America and Japan), and at least two A. gallica clades (North America); and (iv) Solidipes/Ostoyae superclade including two A. solidipes/ostoyae clades (North America), A. gemina (eastern USA), A. solidipes/ostoyae (Eurasia), A. cepistipes (Europe and Japan), A. sinapina (North America and Japan), and A. borealis (Eurasia) clade 2. Of note is that A. borealis (Eurasia) clade 1 appears basal to the Solidipes/Ostoyae and Gallica superclades. The Neighbor-net analysis showed similar phylogenetic relationships. This study further demonstrates the utility of tef1 for global phylogenetic studies of Armillaria species and provides critical insights into multiple taxonomic issues that warrant further study.

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Three elm species are native to Poland: wych elm (Scots elm) (Ulmus glabra Huds.), field elm (U. minor Mill.), and European white elm (fluttering elm) (U. laevis Pall.). The epidemic of Dutch elm disease (DED) has led to a decrease in the popularity of elm cultivation. An analysis of forestry data was the first step in the assessment of elm resources. The area of forest stands where elms are dominant has more than doubled since 1978. Lowland alluvial forests rank first in regards to the number of elm localities per unit area of a given forest site type. While this site type is clearly preferred by elms, the majority of elm trees are actually scattered among sites of oak-hornbeam or closely related forests (of the alliance Carpinion betuli). Field research revealed a clear dominance of U. laevis, a species which in the past was predominantly located out of woodland and rarely cultivated. Data analysis indicated that all trees greater than 70 cm in diameter belonged to this species. Data from plots surveyed directly also suggest that the three elm species have slightly different habitat preferences. U. laevis prefers riparian habitats, although the major part of its resources is now on potential sites of oak-hornbeam or closely related forests. U. minor even more often than U. laevis occurs at less humid sites (mostly potential sites of oak-hornbeam or closely related forests), while U. glabra prefers moist slopes. In general, it appears that the impact of DED in the last 20-30 years has been smaller than in the preceding period, however, the disappearance of the disease has not been established. Undoubtedly, U. laevis is the elm species that is least impacted by DED.