Xylaria corniformis

On decaying dead wood of broadleaf trees on the ground, such as stumps or fallen branches, with club-shaped or spatula-shaped ascomata, with a characteristic bulbous base, 3 to 5 cm tall, carbonaceous in appearance, blackish, with a rugose surface.

Perithecia subglobose to ellipsoidal, 0.4 to 0.6 mm high by 0.3 to 0.5 mm wide.

Asci cylindrical, eight-spored (octosporic), pedicellate, 90 to 120 µm long by 6 to 8 µm wide, with uniseriate spore arrangement within the ascus (in a single row one behind the other), with an amyloid apical apparatus shaped like an inverted cone, 1.5 to 2 µm high by 1.5 to 2.5 µm wide at the apex.

Interascal material resembling paraphyses, filiform, smooth, hyaline, septate, 1.5 to 3 µm wide, usually slightly exceeding the level of the asci.

Ascospores ellipsoidal, with one side more flattened (inequilateral), dark brown under the microscope, 8.5 to 10.5 µm long by 5 to 6 µm wide, with a straight germ slit running the entire length of the spore.

Herbarium material available: JTP2581/25.