Dead Man’s Fingers- Don't Be Scared!!!

Have you seen "Dead Man's Fingers" popping out from the ground near to the backyard of your house? Is a Dead Man is struggling hard to come out from the ground? They are not really a Dead Man's Fingers, there are just a "Fungus".

Xylaria polymorpha

Xylaria polymorpha is commonly called "Dead Man's Fingers". 

It is a aprotrophic fungus- which is a odd mushroom dons shaped like a human finger, each about 1.5 to 4 inches tall. This clump of the mushrooms looks like a human hand.

In the spring season, this mushroom will be in young stage, it has pale or bluish with a white tip at first in that stage this mushroom looks like dead man fingers.

By summer, however, this mushroom begins to blacken, and by late summer it will be entirely black and dried out.

Its fruiting Body is 3-10 cm tall and up to 2.5 cm across. It is tough and  shaped more or less like a club or a finger but occasionally flattened. 

It is usually with a rounded tip at first coated with a pale to bluish, except at the whitish tip. But soon blackish with a pale tip and eventually black overall surface becoming minutely pimpled and wrinkled with maturity.

Finally, this Dead Man's Fingers mushroom is not poisonous. 

 

saprotrophic fungus

Read more at Gardening Know How: What Is Dead Man’s Finger: Learn About Dead Man’s Finger Fungus http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/dead-mans-finger-fungus.htm

is a saprotrophic fungus

Read more at Gardening Know How: What Is Dead Man’s Finger: Learn About Dead Man’s Finger Fungus http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/dead-mans-finger-fungus.htm

is a saprotrophic fungus

Read more at Gardening Know How: What Is Dead Man’s Finger: Learn About Dead Man’s Finger Fungus http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/dead-mans-finger-fungus.htm