Hypoxylon (deustum)

Description: Growing on many different hardwoods on base of tree. Black brittle and tar-like, with surface covered with the small openings of its perithecia. Perithecia visible on breaking open of top layer. The fungus is a pathogen when it decays maple sprouts as they try to develop from residual stumps and root systems. As the number of sprouts killed by Hypoxylon deustum is relatively small in relation to many that grow following harvesting or thinning, no control measures have been developed (http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/pubs/diseases/roots.htm).