Xylaria polymorpha

June to November

Saprobic with hardwoods. Oak and pine forests, lawns.

1″ to 4″

In the spring Dead Man’s Fingers are pale, coated with spore dust, with a whitish tip. Later in the season they are dark brown and blackish, looking like something left by the neighbor’s cat. In the fall they are dried out and black. The surface is rough or minutely pimpled.

The scientific name is actually a consolidation, called a species complex, of 5 to 10 species that cannot be easily distinguished from each other.