Exidia pithya

Exidia pithya forms grey-black to brown-black, gelatinous fruit bodies that are button-shaped at first, coalescing with age and forming effused patches up to 20 cm long. The upper, spore-bearing surface is normally smooth, becoming slightly furrowed, occasionally with a few scattered pegs or warts. The spore print is white.^[1][2]

The microscopic characters are typical of the genus Exidia. The basidia are ellipsoid and septate. The spores are cylindrical to weakly allantoid (sausage-shaped), 11 to 15 by 4 to 5 μm.^[1][2]

Fruit bodies of Exidia glandulosa and E. nigricans are similarly coloured, but occur on broad leaved trees. Fruit bodies of E. saccharina and E. umbrinella occur on conifers, but are brown to orange-brown.

Exidia pithya is a wood-rotting species, typically found on dead branches. It was originally described from pine (Pinus species), but is more common on spruce (Picea species) and less common on fir and larch (Abies and Larix species).^[1] It is widely distributed throughout continental Europe from Scandinavia to Turkey, but is absent from the British Isles.