My review of past postings of articles to this and related
newsgroups/websites suggested that this is a case of Nectria
canker.
In fact, one website listed Nectria as the only common problem
encountered with the golden raintree. Alas, most references to
this
fungus indicate that it is an almost incurable condition.

There is no cure, other than amputation of the infected area and
off-site destruction of the diseased stem. Nectria canker
usually occurs where a tree has been wounded. The tree is likely
to try to wall away the diseased area, causing a swelling in the
branch or trunk. The canker itself isn't likely to be fatal to
an otherwise healthy tree, but it can lead to attacks by borers,
which are attracted to diseased and weakened trees.

I suppose you could consider topping the tree a couple of inches
below the damaged are and starting over again. Sterilize all
tools.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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These areas are surrounded by what
would pass for an inky blue or black stain on the bark of the tree.
Within the cankers are reddish-brown areas covered with a gelatinous
material that is very slow to dry after a rainy day.

Those are excellent pictures. However, that doesn't look like Nectria
canker. Nectria produces pink eruptions on the affected area, like really
bad acne, and the spore mass is initially powdery, and then, when the
sexual state has formed, spores ooze out in little horns. You have some
sort of slime flux. It could be a bacterium coming in after a fungus like
Botryosphaeria.

At any rate, the treatment is the same: you have to cut off the cankers
well beneath diseased tissue. Do this on a dry day so you don't
contaminate the cut wound.

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++++Sponsored, in part, by Evergreen Gardenworks++++
************************************************** ******************************
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++