On the cover Cenangium ferruginosum is a saprotroph or weak parasite that can cause shoot shedding of pine on large forest areas. In 1996, C. ferruginosum contributed to the dying of Scots pine trees on the area of over 1 million ha in northwestern Poland. On dead shoots, it produces dark brown apothecia, which in the wet state are saucer-shaped, 1–3 mm in diameter, with a visible beige hymenium.

[Author: Andrzej Szczepkowski]