Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria sp.) is an interesting fungus that, at stages during its life-cycle, does resemble a dead man’s fingers reaching out of the ground. I found it in my yard devoloping in my butterfly garden on woodchips placed to smother the grass. Dead Man’s Fingers grow for several months and take on several forms during their life-cycle.
Early in its development , Dead Man’s Fingers produce a powdery bluish bloom of asexual spores. Later they develop tiny crack-like pockets on their surface that the sexual spores disperse through. These sexual spores provide the microscopic characters needed to identify the species. I think my species is in the Xylatia polymorpha complex. Polymorpha is aptly named because it means “many forms.” See Michael Kuo’s excellent MushroomExpert.com website for more information.
My main challenge with identifying fungi is the different forms the same fungus takes on during its lifetime. I am glad that Nature allowed me the opportunity to observe this fascinating fungus right outside my door.
Copyright 2019 by Donald Drife
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I found these plants in my yard for the first time last summer (2019). Having never seen anything like it I was a little weary of touching it. I pressed my shoe against it and it felt solid. It was a pretty ugly growth. thanks for including this in your blog
A certified arborist has identified Dead Man’s Fingers around the base of a huge beech on my property. He recommends taking the tree out ($6,200) but has an alternative of using a bark-penetrating systemic fungicide to see if we can keep the
tree alive for a while. Would you know what fungicide he’s talking about? I don’t believe he wants to tell us because he’d rather charge us $215 three times a year to apply the stuff.
I am not a master gardener. My blog is not about gardening it is a nature appreciation and identification blog. I have no idea what fungicide he is talking about. I didn’t even know Dead Man’s Fingers would harm a tree. I usually see it growing on garden mulch. You might want to contact your county extension service.
Sorry I couldn’t be of help,
Don