Candlesnuff stuff

Walking my dog yesterday I spotted a few tiny specks of white among the leaf litter and, bending down to look more closely, I found some beautifully delicate Candlesnuff Fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon).

And the closer I looked, the more I found, each more complicated and fascinating than the previous.

It's so small that it's very easy to miss - the largest specimens only grow to just over two inches high.

It's sometimes called 'Stagshorn Fungus' for obvious reasons. However, this is wrong as the actual Stagshorn Fungus - Calocera viscosa - is bright yellow.

I took this photo of Stagshorns in nearby Penn Woods during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The Candlesnuff Fungus grows in clusters on dead and rotting wood, and can be found on stumps and branches of all sorts of trees. 

The origin of the name is debated. Some say that it's because it's white and stick-like with a black base, like a candle turned over and doused. 

Others believe that it's because Candlesnuff Fungus is bioluminescent. However, it is very weak and you'd have to be in a pitch black space to see it clearly. Or you'd need an image intensifier (night vision) or take a long-exposure photograph. It may be that, when the name was coined, the fungus emitted a brighter light but no longer does so. After all, the world is a much brighter place at night these days. 

The fungus is tough and not considered edible although it isn't poisonous or harmful. 

It would make a pretty meagre meal anyway.

The other really interesting thing I know about Candlesnuff Fungus is that it has an odd life cycle. Spores colonise old rotting wood and put up their curious white horns when established. However, most fungus only do this when they are ready to reproduce - the mushrooms and toadstools we see above ground are fruiting bodies - sex organs if you like. I often joke that the fungi are flashing us! However, Candlestuff starts to release asexual spores without mating. If you flick one of the 'antlers' you'll see a fine dust given off. These spores are clones and drift away to colonise more logs. Later, the fungus will switch to producing sexual spores but, by that time, a single fungus may have covered a large area. It would be like me making copies of myself in order to impregnate the maximum number of women in the shortest time. 

It's also a bit like the facehugger stage of the xenomorphs in the Alien franchise when you think about it.

No matter what Hollywood comes up with, you can guarantee that Nature got there first.