The scientific profile
From the latest record: 2025-09-27.
Stroma / fruit body
Black, carbonaceous stromata, either crust-like patches or erumpent areas on bark of dead wood; often with a thin whitish entostroma below the surface.
Perithecia / ostioles
Perithecia immersed to slightly erumpent, with small black ostioles breaking through the stromal surface.
Hymenium Attachment
N/A (ascomycete)
Spore print
Spore print: N/A
Ecology
Saprobic, primarily on dead or decaying hardwood branches, especially birch, alder, acer, occurs on dead bark
Edibility
Inedible / microscopic
Fruit body
Dimensions stromatal patches variable, perithecial ostioles ~ tens to hundreds of micrometers in diameter
Microscopy
Microscopic features:
Description
Asci: 8-spored asci
Description
Ascospores: Allantoid (curved) spores, hyaline, ~ 3 × 15-18 µm
Description
Stromatal structure: Stromata composed of ectostroma and entostroma, perithecia embedded within these layers
Overview
Wood-inhabiting ascomycete that forms black stromatal crusts on dead hardwood bark
1987). Mycol. Helv. 2(3): 502.