This Creepy-Looking Fungus Known as "Dead Man's Fingers"

Conidia
In common with other Xylaria species this fungus is also capable of asexual reproduction via conidiospores (often referred to as conidia), which are smaller than the ascospores, smooth, ellipsoidal and hyaline. The pale blue-grey powdery conidiospores are still visible on the tips of young fruitbodies pictured on the left; they will have been blown or washed away by the time that the ascospores are ripe, and then the surface of the 'fingers' will have become a much darker shade of brown.