Dead Man's Fingers

Dark, blunt clubs pushing up out of dead wood, in a cluster that looks uncomfortably like a hand. They belong to Xylaria, a large genus of fungi with many species in the tropics; telling them apart usually takes a microscope, so this one stays at genus level.

Young fingers are often dusted pale with asexual spores. As they age they turn black, and the spores that matter are made in tiny flask-shaped chambers just under the crust, then squeezed out through pores at the surface.

The fungus lives inside the wood and slowly rots it. Unlike most mushrooms the fingers are tough and woody, so they last for months, which is why these were still standing in February, well into the dry season.