Beech Woodwart

Hypoxylon fragiforme

On deciduous trees, fallen twigs, branches, trunks. Autumn, spring.

Perithecial stromata tiny, 0.5–1 cm across, round, globose, at first brownish-red, brick-red, darkening with age to brown, blackish-brown, with a tiny opening at the top for spores to escape. The inner mass blackish-brown. Characteristic features: widespread in forests, more rarely in parks, on fallen or dead branches. Grows singly but close to one another, in groups, on branches that look as if covered with small knobs. Common. An active saprotroph.