''Xylaria hypoxylon'' is a species of

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from t ...

in the family Xylariaceae. It is known by a variety of common names, such as the candlestick fungus, the candlesnuff fungus, carbon antlers, or the stag's horn fungus. The

fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

, characterized by erect, elongated black branches with whitened tips, typically grow in clusters on decaying hardwood. The fungus can cause a root rot in

hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

and gooseberry plants.

Taxonomy

''Xylaria hypoxylon'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1745, and then later mentioned by him in his ''Species Plantarum II''. The specific epithet is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words ''hypo'' meaning "below", and ''xylon'', meaning "wood".

Description

Fruit bodies ( ascocarps) are cylindrical or flattened with dimensions of tall × 2–8 mm thick. The erect ascocarps are often twisted or bent, and typically sparsely branched, often in a shape resembling a stag's

antlers Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on males ...

. Specimens found earlier in the season, in spring, may be covered completely in asexual spores ( conidia), which manifests itself as a white to grayish powdery deposit. Later in the season, mature ascocarps are charcoal-black, and have minute pimple-like bumps called perithecia on the surface. These are minute rounded spore bearing structures with tiny holes, or ostioles, for the release of sexual spores ( ascospores). The perithecia are embedded in the flesh of the ascocarp, the stroma, which is tough, elastic, and white. Within the perithecia, the asci are 100 × 8 μm. Ascospores are kidney-shaped, black, and smooth, with dimensions of 10–14 × 4–6 μm. The asexual spores ( mitospores) are ellipsoid in shape, smooth, and hyaline.

Edibility

Although not poisonous, the small size and tough texture of this fungus deter consumption. It is considered inedible by some guides.

Similar species

Xylaria polymorpha ''Xylaria polymorpha'', commonly known as dead man's fingers, is a saprobic fungus. It is a common inhabitant of forest and woodland areas, usually growing from the bases of rotting or injured tree stumps and decaying wood. It has also been know ...

'' is thicker and not as branched as ''X. hypoxylon''.

Chemical compounds

A variety of chemical compounds with ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called " test-tube experiments", these studies in biology ...

'' properties have been identified in this fungus. The compounds xylarial A and B both have moderate cytotoxic activity against the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line Hep G2. The

pyrone Pyrones or pyranones are a class of heterocyclic chemical compounds. They contain an unsaturated six-membered ring containing one oxygen atom and a ketone functional group. There are two isomers denoted as 2-pyrone and 4-pyrone. The 2-pyrone (or ...

derivative compounds named xylarone and 8,9-dehydroxylarone also have cytotoxic activity. Several

cytochalasin Cytochalasins are fungal metabolites that have the ability to bind to actin filaments and block polymerization and the elongation of actin. As a result of the inhibition of actin polymerization, cytochalasins can change cellular morphology, inhib ...

s, compounds that bind to

actin Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of ov ...

in muscle tissue, have been found in the fungus.Espada A, Rivera Sagredo A, de la Fuente JM, Hueso Rodriguez JA, Elson SW. (1997). "New cytochalasins from the fungus ''Xylaria hypoxylon''." ''Tetrahedron'' 53(18): 6485–92. ''X. hypoxylon'' also contains a

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

-binding protein, a lectin, with a unique sugar specificity, and which has potent

anti-tumor Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothera ...

effects in various tumor

cell lines An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells ...

References

External links

Fungi on Wood
Description and photos {{Taxonbar, from=Q1272474 Xylariales Fungi of Europe Fungi described in 1824 Inedible fungi Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus