Memento mori in the woods

I always thought these funereal fungi were Xylaria polymorpha or Dead Men's Fingers but I now believe they are the closely related species Xylaria longipes or Dead Moll's Fingers, with a slightly slimmer and less clumpy appearance - more feminine! Either way, if you look closely you may see these miniature dead digits beckoning from mossy logs in winter, like a spooky reminder of foul play among the trees.

I used to read a lot about travel and exploration in polar regions so my personal association is with the gangrenous stumps of those unfortunate enough to get their fingers and toes frostbitten. In 1835 the crews of several whaling ships were iced in at Baffin Bay. Unprepared for a winter sojourn they endured intense cold, starvation and disease. On one occasion four men were benighted on the ice and when they returned next morning all had suffered frostbite. Their boots had to be cut away and their extremities "were that hard that when they walked For'd to the Galley their bare feet resounded as if they had on wooden shoes." The image of these poor fellows clunking hollowly across the deck has always remained with me. (Two of them died.)

At one time I suffered from Raynaud's phenomenon, a not-uncommon condition in which the peripheral circulation cuts off in response to cold, leaving one with stiff, numb 'dead' fingers which hurt intensely when the blood supply returns. But in that case the fingers are white.

Dead men's fingers can also refer to: some inner parts of a crab, a variety of soft coral, a species of seaweed, and the early purple orchid.