A black earth tongue: a slender, club-shaped ascomycete with a flattened black head and a dark stem, growing among mosses on the ground or on mossy logs. 'Geoglossum nigritum' is now treated as a synonym, the name having rested on misreadings of an old description of an unrelated fungus. Like other earth tongues it is reliably identified only by its long, brown, multi-septate spores.
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Habitat
Saprobic; alone or in groups on the ground among mosses in hardwood and conifer forests, sometimes on moss-covered logs; in Europe also in grassland. Spring through fall, or over winter in warm climates.
Distribution
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Widespread in Europe, Asia, Oceania and North America (described from Padua, Italy). North American collections cited from Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Characteristics
Fruitbody: club-shaped, 2-10 cm high. Head: 4-7 mm wide, often flattened and grooved lengthwise, black, bald and dry, clearly distinct from the stem. Stem: 2-4 mm wide, black or very dark brown, bald or finely scurfy, with pale gray basal mycelium. Flesh: thin. Spores: 55-90 x 5-8 um, cylindric to subfusiform, slightly curved, usually 7-septate, dark brown (MushroomExpert).
