Species details
Warlock's butter
Exidia nigricans
Inedible
Photo: Michel Langeveld · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A dark-brown to almost black gelatinous wood fungus with a wrinkled, finely warty surface, often merging into larger black masses.
Identification features
Individual fruitbodies begin button-like, later become irregularly lobed and merge. When wet they are glossy and gelatinous; when dry they shrink to a thin black crust.
Identification checklist
Check for a black gelatinous mass with a finely warty upper surface, growing mainly on dead branches.
Habitat
Grows on dead conifer branches, especially spruce, and also on hardwood; most common in cool wet periods.
Fruiting period
October, November, December, January, February, March
Ecology
- Host trees
- Spruce (Picea)
- Substrate
- Wood
- Soil
- Moist
- Notes
- Grows on dead conifer branches, especially spruce, and also on hardwood; most common in cool wet periods.
How to separate similar species
Exidia glandulosa tends to form more separate, clearly delimited fruitbodies; black Exidia species can be difficult.