Blackening Exsidia (Exidia nigricans)

Systematics:
  • Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Auriculariomycetidae
  • Order: Auriculariales (Auriculariales)
  • Family: Exidiaceae (Exidiaceae)
  • Genus: Exidia (Exidia)
  • Type: Exidia nigricans (Blackening Exidia)


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Exidia blackening (Exidia nigricans) photo and description

Exidia nigricans (With.)

Fruit body: 1-3 cm in diameter, black or black-brown, at first rounded, then the fruiting bodies merge into one tuberculate brain-like mass, extending up to 20 cm, adhering to the substrate. The surface is shiny, smooth or wavy-wrinkled, covered with small dots. When dried, they become hard and turn into a black crust covering the substrate. After rains, they can swell again.

Pulp: dark, transparent, gelatinous.

spore powder: white.

Споры elongated 12-16 x 4-5,5 microns.

Taste: insignificant.

Smell: neutral.

Exidia blackening (Exidia nigricans) photo and description

The mushroom is inedible, but not poisonous.

It grows on fallen and dried branches of deciduous and broad-leaved trees, sometimes covering a large area.

Widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, including throughout Our Country.

Appears in spring in April-May and, under favorable conditions, grows until late autumn.

Exidia blackening (Exidia nigricans) photo and description

Exidia spruce (Exidia pithya) – grows on conifers, fruiting bodies are smooth. Some mycologists believe that spruce exsidia and blackening exsidia are the same species.

Exidia glandular (Exidia glandulosa) – grows only on broad-leaved species (oak, beech, hazel). Fruiting bodies never merge into a common mass. Spores in glandular exsidia are slightly larger.

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