''Xylaria polymorpha'', commonly known as dead man's fingers, is a

saprobic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

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 known to colonize substrates like woody legume pods, petioles, and herbaceous stems. It is characterized by its elongated upright, clavate, or strap-like stromata poking up through the ground, much like fingers. The genus ''

Xylaria ''Xylaria'' is a genus of Ascomycota, ascomycetous fungi commonly found growing on Coarse woody debris, dead wood. The name comes from the Greek (language), Greek ''xýlon'' meaning ''wood'' (see xylem). Two of the common species of the genus ar ...

'' contains about 100 species of

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

fungi. Polymorpha means "many forms". As its name suggests, it has a very variable but often club-shaped fruiting body ( stroma) resembling burned wood. Often this fungus is found with a multitude of separate "digits" but at times the individual parts will be fused together. Xylaria polymorpha3

Belonging to the phylum of fungus known as

Ascomycetes Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

(division

Mycota 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 th ...

) known as the sac fungi, they are characterized by a saclike structure, the

ascus An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...

, which contains anything from four to eight ascospores in the sexual stage. The sac fungi are separated into subgroups based on whether asci arise singly or are borne in one of several types of fruiting structures, or

ascocarp An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are m ...

s, and on the method of discharge of the ascospores. Many ascomycetes are plant pathogens, some are animal pathogens, a few are edible mushrooms, and many live on dead organic matter (as

saprobe Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

s). The largest and most commonly known ascomycetes include the

morel ''Morchella'', the true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi in the order Pezizales (division Ascomycota). These distinctive fungi have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges with ...

and the

truffle A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''Peziz ...

, however, ''X. polymorpha'' is an inedible variety. The dark fruiting body (often black or brown, but sometimes shades of blue/green) is white on the inside, with a blackened dotted area all around. This blackened surrounding area is made up of tiny structures called

perithecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mo ...

. The perithecia hold a layer of asci which contain the

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...

s. The asci elongate into the

ostiole An ''ostiole'' is a small hole or opening through which algae or fungi release their mature spores. The word is a diminutive of "ostium", "opening". The term is also used in higher plants, for example to denote the opening of the involuted ...

, and discharge the ascospores outward. The spore distribution is a lengthy process, sometimes taking several months to complete this part of the life cycle, this is not a common trait amongst fungi, as is normally a much swifter process. In springtime this fungus often produces a layer of white or bluish asexual spores called

conidia A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...

, which grow on its surface and surrounding area.

References

External links

Index Fungorum

USDA ARS Fungal Database

Images

Dead Man's Fingers
* https://mushroomobserver.org/name/show_name/2?q=2PwL3 {{Taxonbar, from=Q241408 Fungal tree pathogens and diseases Xylariales Fungi of Europe Inedible fungi Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Fungi described in 1824