English: Dead man's fingers; Multifaceted wood club.
German: Vielgestaltige heulzkreule.
Clades:
Ascomycota;
Fungi.
Genus: 100 species.
Region: cosmopolitan.
Habitat: forest and woodland areas, usually growing from the bases of rotting or injured tree stumps and decaying wood; on woody legume pods, petioles, herbaceous stems.
Use: inedible.
MycologyType: saprobic fungus; very variable, often club-shaped, elongated upright, clavate, or strap-like stromata poking up through the ground, like fingers, or burned wood; dark, often black or brown, sometimes shades of blue green, blackened dotted area all around; inside is white
Cover: black tiny structures, called perithecia, holding a layer of asci which contain the ascospores; asci elongate into the ostiole, and discharge the ascospores outward; spore distribution is an unusual lengthy process, sometimes taking several months; in springtime it produces a layer of white or bluish asexual spores, conidia, growing on the surface and surrounding area.