Pseudoplectania melaena

The genus Pseudoplectania comprises several closely related species, both macroscopically and microscopically. In this case, Pseudoplectania melaena is strictly confined to Abies alba wood. This substrate specificity renders it rare and seldom recorded on the Iberian Peninsula, restricted to the Pyrenean region.

It is characterized by its dark black color and distinctly tomentose hymenium, cup-shaped initially and expanding at maturity, with a well-defined stipe emerging from the substrate.

This ascomycete fruits between late winter and early spring. The studied specimens were collected in April in a silver fir forest in Ochagavía (Navarra), growing on two moss-covered dead fir logs.