Xylaria long-legged (Xylaria longipes)
Systematics:
- Department: Ascomycota (Ascomycetes)
- Subdivision: Pezizomycotina (Pesizomycotins)
- Class: Sordariomycetes (Sordariomycetes)
- Subclass: Xylariomycetidae (Xylariomycetes)
- Order: Xylariales (Xilariaceae)
- Family: Xylariaceae (Xilariaceae)
- Genus: Xylaria (Xilaria)
- Species: Xylaria longipes (Xylaria long-legged)
Synonyms:
-
Xylosphaera longipes
- Xilaria long-legged
- Long-legged xilaria
Long-legged Xilaria in English-speaking countries is called 'dead moll's fingers' – 'Fingers of a dead street girl', 'Fingers of a dead prostitute'. A creepy name, but it is the essence of the difference between Xilaria long-legged and Xilaria multifaceted, which is called 'Dead man's fingers': long-legged is thinner than multifarious, and it often has a thin leg. The second popular name for Xilaria long-legged, French, is pénis de bois mort, 'dead wooden penis'.
Description
Fruit body: 2-8 centimeters in height and up to 2 cm in diameter, club-shaped, with a rounded end. In youth from gray to brown, with age becomes completely black. As the fungus matures, the surface of the fruiting body becomes scaly and cracked. A leg of proportional length, but it may be short or even absent.
Spores 13-15 x 5-7 microns, smooth, fusiform, with spiral germinal fissures.
Ecology
Saprophyte on decaying deciduous logs, fallen trees, stumps and branches, especially loves beech and maple fragments. They grow singly and in groups, in forests, sometimes at forest edges. Causes soft rot.
Season and distribution
Spring-autumn. Grows in Europe, Asia, North America.
Edibility
The mushroom is not edible. No data on toxicity.
Similar species
Xylaria polymorpha is somewhat larger and 'thicker', but a microscope is needed to distinguish these species in controversial cases. Whereas X. longipes spores are 12 to 16 by 5-7 micrometers (μm) in size, X. polymorpha spores measure from 20 to 32 by 5-9 μm.
Other information about the mushroom
Scientists have discovered the amazing ability of this and another species of fungus (physisporinus vitreus) to positively influence the quality of wood. In particular, Professor Francis Schwarz from the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science and Technology 'Empa' has invented a method of wood processing that changes the acoustic properties of natural materials.
The discovery is based on the use of special mushrooms and is able to bring modern violins closer to the sound of the famous works of Antonio Stradivari (writes about this the journal Science Daily).
Photo: Wikipedia
