Charcoal mat fungus can be mistaken for real fire charcoal

Evidence

Charcoal is often hard to find in older burned sites in the northeast since the only wood that burns here is already dead at the time of the fire. Our region’s living trees rarely burn, and the singed portions of their bark are often shed within a few years. Charcoal will most readily be found on basal scars that were already present prior to a fire and on snags or deadfall (F.4),. Be sure you are observing charcoal and not charcoal mat fungus that naturally covers the wood of maple, beech, and elm in late stages of decay. Charcoal mat fungus (F.5), has a smooth surface that often looks like it has been sculpted with a wood gouge, not broken into a blocky pattern like charcoal. Also, charcoal mat fungus won’t rub off on your fingers as does charcoal. — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics, 129

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clean field rule distinguishing true charcoal from a look-alike fungus by blocky pattern and finger-rub test.
• XREF: connects to: Carving chestnut reveals vertical lines vanish beyond each growth ring — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to…, 153

Related

• Carving chestnut reveals vertical lines vanish beyond each growth ring (similarity 0.79)