Black lump on fallen tree branch?

[Paul_B]

I saw a thick thick, fallen tree branch from that January storm in 2022i think when the wind came from a more unusual direction. It was chopped up but this length had been left all this time. It now has two bell shaped lumps on the top of it that look like charred wood or shaped, lumpwood charcoal. All cracked and rough. I assume it's a fungal growth of some kind.

Does anyone know what it could be?

Sorry no photographs and I'm not going back that way to get some any time soon I reckon. So I'm hoping you can tell from my description.

 

[Woody girl]

Sounds like cramp balls, excellent firelighting, will take an ember easily and blow into a flame with a tinder nest of dried grass etc.
If you take them home to dry thoroughly, put them on some newspapers, and do it in a shed or garage, as they can shed spores that look like soot, and are messy. You don't want fungal spores floating around inside the house.

 

[Kadushu]

Maybe horse hoof fungus?

 

[Paul_B]

Sorry, the bell shapes go straight up out of the horizontal branch section. Very black and rough surfaces like charcoal briquettes I think. Shape closest to the upper right in above photo but all the way around with the wide part on the wood not the centreline.

 

[Paul_B]

Just googled cramp balls. I'd seen king Alfred cakes but they're too shiny. There's a photo I saw with when I googled cramp balls that looked right in colour and surface texture just not shape. I guess shape is random so cramp balls look right.

Thanks!

 

[slowworm]

Cramp balls can vary in colour and shape, young ones can be pinkish brown, changing to black with age. Some good picks here: https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/king-alfreds-cakes/

 

[ManFriday4]

I saw a thick thick, fallen tree branch from that January storm in 2022i think when the wind came from a more unusual direction. It was chopped up but this length had been left all this time. It now has two bell shaped lumps on the top of it that look like charred wood or shaped, lumpwood charcoal. All cracked and rough. I assume it's a fungal growth of some kind.

Does anyone know what it could be?

Sorry no photographs and I'm not going back that way to get some any time soon I reckon. So I'm hoping you can tell from my description.

What species of tree was it, was the tree alive or dead. How big was the fungi

 

[TomTheTank]

Unlikely, but it could be Chaga. They are extremely rare but you never know.

 

[Paul_B]

Cramp balls can vary in colour and shape, young ones can be pinkish brown, changing to black with age. Some good picks here: https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/king-alfreds-cakes/

Just like the black ones in this link. Now I know.