Daldinia concentrica

Description	Initially brown and dense, the fruitbodies of Daldinia concentrica soon turn black, dry out and become less dense. There is no stipe; the fruit body is attached to the host wood by a broad, flat area underneath the cushion-shaped fruit body. The spore-bearing surface is the outside of the fruit body, and spores leavce a slightly darker area of wood around the fungus.
Dimensions	Individual fruit bodies are typically 2 to 8 cm across, but several may merge to form a much larger compound outgrowth.
Spore print	Black.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On dead or dying wood of ash trees. A very similar species occurs on beech.
Season	New fruit bodies appear from mid summer through to the end of autumn, but old, dried out fruit bodies sometimes persist for a year or two.
Occurrence	Frequent.
Similar species	Several blackish crust fungi occur on dead wood. Ustulina deusta is one example; it does not have concentric rings within its fruit body and does not form cushion-shaped or ball shaped growths.