Asci are embedded in an ascocarp, or fruiting body. Within each ascocarp are several asci. It forms a small, compound ascocarp that arises from the cadaver of its host beetle. The asci are protected by a perithecium, a flask-shaped ascocarp, in which the pathogen overwinters. These asci sit naked on the leaf surface with no ascocarp. This fungus forms a rounded brown, roughly hairy ascocarp underground. The flesh of the ascocarp walls is tough and initially gelatinous, later becoming leathery. Blue-green stain is evident year-round, with ascocarp production occurring from summer to fall. The ascocarp bears many small, flask-shaped perithecia containing asci. An ascocarp is the fruiting body of the sexual phase in Ascomycota. Ascocarp is dark brown, globose with filamentous appendages, asci oblong. The spore-bearing structures or asci are randomly distributed throughout the ascocarp in groups of eight. The specific ascocarp is a chasmothecium, or cleistothecium, and has a circular shape to it.