100 More Species #60: Coral spot

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Coral spot Nectria cinnabarina

About a year ago I cut down a dozen or so Norway maple saplings and arranged the cut wood along a retaining wall by size. The stumps of the saplings act as brackets keeping the piles of cut wood in piles not spilling into the yard. Recently I've noticed the cut logs are breaking out in fungal skin conditions. A few have this beautiful coral spot acne, some have a dry rash of gray-lilac crust, and a couple manifested a growth of Porodisculus pendulus; there is also the unknown fungus in this other post.

Coral spot is one of those creatures I never noticed until I started making a habit of noticing everything. I first saw it in Forest Hills Cemetery I believe, and was stunned by it's beauty and mystery.

The spots produce two generations of spores, first asexual spores called conidia, then sexual spores called perithecia erupt from the same structures. Especially unlovely photographs of these stages are available here.


Also I found some bird's nest fungi growing on an old rotten board in the back of the yard. I thought for sure it was new for the project but nope I covered the same species in 2011.