Black jelly on Oak for ID

[Gerel]

Hi,

the following were growing in large numbers on a fallen oak branch. They were all this sooty black colour, even the young ones which were smoother on the top surface. There was no sign of the rolled margin of Bulgar inquinans. Maximum size approx 40mm across. They were tough, leathery and jelly like at the same time. Spores were very dark brown/black, you can see where they have stained the surrounding moss and they marked my fingers when I handled one.



The underside was rough and pitted with a short central stalk.



Thanks for looking,

Steve.

[fairplay]

This looks to be a type of Exidia sp. but this is growing on the moss which is very strange.
Can't take this much further I'm afraid.

Neil.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by fairplay

This looks to be a type of Exidia sp. but this is growing on the moss which is very strange.
Can't take this much further I'm afraid.

Neil.

I share your confusion Neil, but if - as Steve says - "they marked my fingers when I handled one" then one suspects this may be old/distorted/desiccated Bulgaria

Exidia doesn't have coloured spores - whereas Bulgaria has that fascinating character of four black and four colourless spores in the ascus - and the name inquinans does mean 'staining' in Latin after all . . .

cheers

Chris

[Gerel]

I've just been back for a closer look and I think that Chris is spot on.

While most of the fruit bodies look like the ones in the original post,



there are a few to the right side of this shot that are more typical B. inquinans,



and on the underside of the branch were some young examples with rolled edges.



Regards

Steve

[fairplay]

I was going to say your second photo in your opening post does look more like B.inquinans, but I had absolutely no idea it produces 4x black and 4x clear spores.
Looking at the drawings in FoS I just assumed that they thought it necessary only to show the top 4 spores in detail to save time, so it really is important to read the accompanying text - if only I had time !
I even came across B.inquinans yesterday.

Yet another interesting bit of info from Chris.

Neil.