KILDARE WILDLIFE COLUMN: Keep an eye out for Dead Man’s Fingers

As the leaves are beginning to fall around our communities this time of year, autumn, is when the woodland floor becomes a hive of activity as bacteria, invertebrates and fungi begin their busy season recycling nutrients from the dead plant litter and old rotting tree stumps back into the soil.

This week, my colleague spotted a species growing on a rotten tree stump, and while I am no fungi expert, I believe it to be a fungus known as Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria polymorpha).

This fungus is common and widespread in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe and it can be found growing on the rotting stumps of felled trees all year round.

When Dead Man’s Fingers first emerges through the moss and leaf layer of a woodland floor they are pale grey in colour with a whitish tip.

Each finger can grow to a height of 8cm and approximately 3cm thick and they typically grow in clumps of between three to six fingers. As Dead Man’s Fingers matures, their colour darkens to black but internally they remain white.

I suppose it is at this stage of the lifecycle that this fungus gets its common name. Like all fungi Dead Man’s Fingers reproduce by spreading spores.

According to the Woodland Trust in the UK the spores are banana shaped and are found on the outer layer of the fungus. They attach themselves to the wood using a type of stalk known as a stipe. While this fungus is not edibleit does have a benefit to our wildlife. As the fungus grows it consumes the polysaccharides in the stump.

This results in the wood becoming soft and more nutrients stored in the wood are released. Through this decomposition of the wood, many woodland invertebrates have a food source supporting the further decomposition and recycling of nutrients in nature.

I wonder will you find this fungus in your local area this week. While it is said to be a fairly common species, I had not come across it before?

If you come across a wildlife species that you would like help identifying contact me at

bogs@ipcc.ie.