Candlesnuff Fungus

Candlesnuff Fungus is a common and widespread, wood-rotting fungus. It occurs in Europe, in eastern and western North America, and in subtropical and tropical regions worldwide. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains and on the West Coast. It is found from spring through fall in a variety of habitats. It appears scattered, in groups, or clustered, on logs, fallen branches, dead stumps, and buried branches of hardwood trees.

Candlesnuff Fungus gains its nutrients from dead wood (saprobic). Most wood-rotting fungi consume cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (white-rot fungi); cellulose, hemicellulose, and to some extent lignin (soft-rot fungi); or just cellulose and hemicellulose (brown-rot fungi). Candlesnuff Fungus and other fungi in the Xylariaceae family are secondary decomposers, targeting wood that has already decayed by the primary decomposers white-rot and brown-rot fungi. They consume only glucan and other minority ingredients that bind the wood together.

Candlesnuff Fungus is extremely variable in shape and appearance. When it first appears, the fruiting body is erect, slender, ¾″ to 4″ (2 to 10 cm) long, and 1⁄16″ to ⅝″ (2 to 15 mm) thick. It may be either cylindrical with a pointed tip or club-like. As it matures, the tip develops branches or forks. The branches are often flattened, making the tip look like a moose’s antler. The lower portion of the fruiting body is sterile, black, and finely downy. The upper portion is powdery and gray to almost white due to a dense covering of asexual spores (conidia). Sometimes the entire fruiting body is covered with these conidia. The extreme tips are thinner, hairless, and whitish to yellowish. This is the asexually reproductive (anamorphic) stage.

The fruiting body eventually turns entirely black. The upper outer surface becomes minutely roughened with tiny, pimple-like bumps (perithecia). This is the sexually reproductive (telemorphic) stage.

The flesh is white and tough. It is not poisonous, but it is too small and much too tough to be edible.

The asexual spore print is white, but under a microscope the spores are colorless. The sexual spore print is black, but under a microscope the spores are brown.

Decayed wood of hardwood trees

Spring through fall

Sources

7, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 7/2/2025).

Xylaria hypoxylon is highly variable in shape and appearance. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and iNaturalist.org both show Xylaria hypoxylon present in Europe, in eastern and western North America, and in subtropical and tropical regions worldwide. A recent molecular and morphological study (Fournier et al., 2011) “proved conclusively that X. hypoxylon occurs in the northwestern USA, but has apparently been confused with the similar X. vasconica in eastern North America.” According to Michael Kuo (MushroomExpert.com) “Evidence so far supports the presence of the true Xylaria hypoxylon in Europe and the West Coast of the United States, in temperate climates but not subtropical and tropical areas. Eastern North American collections may represent Xylaria vasconica (Fournier et al. 2010), a closely related but recently named species that does not usually develop "antlers," or Xylaria longiana.”

Several subspecies, varieties, and forms have been described. Index Fungorum and MycoBank both treat these as synonyms and recognize no subordinate taxa.

Identifying Candlesnuff Fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon
Wild Food in the UK Ltd

Location: Magelssen Bluff Park