Xylaria polymorpha (dead man’s fingers)

Interactions where Xylaria polymorpha is the dominant partner and gains from the process

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'Interaction References').

Stage	Summary	Taxon	Vernacular	Classification	References	Darwin Classification of Active Taxon	Active Taxon	Active Vernacular	Active State	Active Stage	Relationship	Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon	Passive Taxon	Passive Vernacular	Passive State	Passive Part	Season
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead stump	Quercus	oaks	Fagales: Fagaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fagales/Fagaceae/Quercus/	Quercus	oaks	dead	stump	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead branch	Quercus	oaks	Fagales: Fagaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fagales/Fagaceae/Quercus/	Quercus	oaks	dead	branch	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead stump	Prunus	plums, cherries and laurels, planted cherry	Rosales: Rosaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Rosales/Rosaceae/Prunus/	Prunus	plums, cherries and laurels, planted cherry	dead	stump	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead branch	Prunus	plums, cherries and laurels, planted cherry	Rosales: Rosaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Rosales/Rosaceae/Prunus/	Prunus	plums, cherries and laurels, planted cherry	dead	branch	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead stump	Acer	maples	Sapindales: Sapindaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Sapindales/Sapindaceae/Acer/	Acer	maples	dead	stump	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead branch	Acer	maples	Sapindales: Sapindaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Sapindales/Sapindaceae/Acer/	Acer	maples	dead	branch	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead wood	Acer pseudoplatanus	Sycamore, Great Maple	Sapindales: Sapindaceae	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Sapindales/Sapindaceae/Acer pseudoplatanus/	Acer pseudoplatanus	sycamore, great maple	dead	wood	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead stump	[Broadleaved trees]	broadleaved, frondose or deciduous trees		Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Broadleaved trees/	Broadleaved trees	broadleaved, frondose or deciduous trees	dead	stump	(9-11)
stroma (erect, at soil level)	erect, at soil level stroma is saprobic on dead branch	[Broadleaved trees]	broadleaved, frondose or deciduous trees		Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers	erect, at soil level	stroma	Foodplant / saprobe	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Broadleaved trees/	Broadleaved trees	broadleaved, frondose or deciduous trees	dead	branch	(9-11)

Interactions where Xylaria polymorpha is the victim or passive partner (and generally loses out from the process)

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'Interaction References').

Filters:

Affected Part		Summary			Taxon	Vernacular	Classification	References	Darwin Classification of Active Taxon	Active Taxon	Active Vernacular	Active Taxon Uncertain	Active State	Active Part	Active Stage	Relationship	Relationship Uncertain	Relationship Geography	Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon	Passive Taxon	Passive Vernacular	Passive Taxon Uncertain	Passive State	Passive Part	Passive Stage	Passive Taxon's significance to Active Taxon	Indoors etc	Season	Summary
(dead/effete)		dead/effete stroma is decayed by ascomatum			Cosmospora xylariae	a pyrenomycete	Hypocreales: Nectriaceae	Cosmospora xylariae (Nectriaceae), a new species from France, Germany and U.K., with notes on C. berkeleyana, now Sphaerostilbella berkeleyana, and C. scruposae, Lechat, C. & Fournier, J., 2021	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Hypocreales/Nectriaceae/Cosmospora xylariae/	Cosmospora xylariae	a pyrenomycete				ascomatum	Fungus / saprobe		Foreign	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers		dead/effete		stroma				ascomatum is saprobic on dead/effete stroma
stroma		stroma is parasitised by colony of Calcarisporium anamorph			Calcarisporium arbuscula	an anamorphic fungus	Hypocreales	Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates: An Identification Handbook, Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1998	/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Hypocreales/Calcarisporium arbuscula/	Calcarisporium arbuscula	an anamorphic fungus			colony	Calcarisporium anamorph	Fungus / parasite			/Fungi/Ascomycota/Sordariomycetes/Xylariales/Xylariaceae/Xylaria polymorpha/	Xylaria polymorpha	dead man’s fingers			stroma					colony of Calcarisporium anamorph parasitises stroma

Author & Year	Title	Source
Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1997	Microfungi on Land Plants: An Identification Handbook	2nd (New Enlarged) edition, 868pp, The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd
Ellis, M.B. & J.P., 1998	Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates: An Identification Handbook	2nd (New Enlarged) edition, 246pp, The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd
Lechat, C. & Fournier, J., 2021	Cosmospora xylariae (Nectriaceae), a new species from France, Germany and U.K., with notes on C. berkeleyana, now Sphaerostilbella berkeleyana, and C. scruposae	Ascomycete.org vol 13 (5): 189-196.

Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man’s Fingers) may also be included in 'feeds on' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man’s Fingers) may also be included in 'fed on by' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Pyrenomycetes
(charcoal fungi)

Fungi s.l.
(fungi (in the broad sense))

NBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man’s Fingers)

Identification Works

Handling & Magnification	Author	Year	Title	Source
	Minter, D.	1986	Autumn foray 1985: Chester College, Chester	Bull. Br. mycol. Soc. Vol 20 (2): 88-93.

Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man’s Fingers) may also be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

Xylaria
(a genus of stromatic pyrenomycetes)

XYLARIACEAE
(a family of stromatic pyrenomycetes)

ASCOMYCOTA
(spore shooters, ascomycete)

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

Pyrenomycetes
(charcoal fungi)

Fungi s.l.
(fungi (in the broad sense))

BioImages (www.bioimages.org.uk) has 2 images of Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man’s Fingers)

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Species	Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man’s Fingers)
Genus	Xylaria (a genus of stromatic pyrenomycetes)
Family	XYLARIACEAE (a family of stromatic pyrenomycetes)
Order	XYLARIALES (an order of pyrenomycetes)
Subclass	SORDARIOMYCETIDAE (a subclass of ascomycetes and lichens)
Class	SORDARIOMYCETES (a class of ascomycetes)
Subphylum	PEZIZOMYCOTINA (a subphylum of ascomycetes)
Phylum	ASCOMYCOTA (spore shooters, ascomycete)
Kingdom	FUNGI (true fungi)
Domain	Eukaryota (eukaryotes)
Life	BIOTA (living things)

Xylaria polymorpha (Pers.) Grev.
(Dead Man’s Fingers)

Interactions where Xylaria polymorpha is the dominant partner and gains from the process

Interactions where Xylaria polymorpha is the victim or passive partner (and generally loses out from the process)

Taxonomic hierarchy:

Xylaria polymorpha is also a member of:

Identification Works

BioInfo - Wildlife Information (UK)