laria auricula-judae grows on the wood of deciduous trees and shrubs, particularly Sambucus nigra (elder). It is also common on Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore), Fagus sylvatica (beech), Fraxinus excelsior (ash), Eu

onymus europaeus (spindle), and in one particular case, the sycamore draining board of an old sink in Hatton Garden. It very rarely grows on conifers. It favours older branches, where it feeds as a sapro

troph (on dead wood) or a weak parasite (on living wood), and it causes a white rot. Commonly growing solitarily, it can also be gregar

ious (in a group) or caespitose (in a tuft). Spores are ejected from the underside of the fruit bodies with as many as several hundred thousand an hour, and the high rate continues when the bodies have been significantly dried. Even when they have lost some 90% of their weight through dehydration, the bodies continue to release a small number of spores. It is found all year, but is most common in autumn. The species is widespread throughout Europe, but is not known to occur elsewhere. It was formerly thought to be a variable species with a worldwide distribution, but molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has shown that non-Europ