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Daldinia concentrica

King Alfred´s cake

Description

Fruiting body is 2–10 cm across, hemispherical to subglobose, brown at first, then becoming black and shiny. Flesh concentrically zoned silver-grey and blackish.  Gregarious on
dead wood, especially beech and ash. Season all year. This common fungus is very hard and carbonaceous, much like a lump of coal. When you section Daldinia concentrica through the middle, you can see concentric zones.  These zones each represent a season’s growth of reproduction. The small bumps on the surface of the fruiting body are the necks of the perithecia. It causes a soft rot.

Symptom

Fruiting body is 2–10 cm across, hemispherical to subglobose, brown at first, then becoming black and shiny.

Tree Species: Birch

Part of a plant- attacked: Tree trunk

Pest significance: Less harmful

Pest Category: Fungi

Invasive Species: No

Present in EU: Yes

Seasonal frequency of occurrence

Seasonal frequency of occurrence