Xylaria carpophila is found on beech cupules that have fallen to the ground. At first glance it is hard to decide whether this is an endophytic species or just associated with litter. Experiments on propagating the fungus from beech cupules collected both from the tree and the litter suggest the latter - the fruit acts as a base. This species is found only periodically in Britain, the last big find being in the 1940s in Yorkshire. It is, therefore, a real rarity.
Some fungi prefer water-stressed wood.
Mangroves, which grow in tidal swamps, represent an interesting and very specialized habitat for a wide range of tropical Ascomycetes. The distribution of several species has been found to be far wider than previously thought owing to mycologists knowing exactly where to look across the tropics. Hypoxylon oceanicum provides an example of this. Hypoxylon nectriodium , rare elsewhere, grows in such areas in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia. After hurricanes there is an explosion of fungi in clearings in the rain forests.