Ascobolus carbonarius

A small anthracophilic Ascobolus (approximately 1 cm in diameter), common on burnt ground where it fruits abundantly on bare charred soil. Coloration ranges from brown to dark violet; ascospores turn from hyaline when immature to brown or purple at maturity, ornamented with prominent coarse warts.

Photographs and microscopic descriptions derive from three separate collections in Llano de Bureba (Burgos) and in Orduña and Berango (both in Bizkaia), always on burnt substrates.