 They can be embedded in the substratum, bursting through the surface of the substratum (erumpent), or rest entirely on the surface.They can be solitary or in groups, ellipsoid to greatly elongated, and are sometimes branched, triradiate or borne on a crust- or net-like growth of mycelium (a subiculum).In vertical section, hysterothecia are globose to inversely ovoid (obovoid), with a thick three-layered peridium, composed of small pseudoparenchymatous cells, the outer layer heavily encrusted with pigment and often longitudinally striated in age, the middle layer lighter in pigmentation and the inner layer distinctly thin-walled, pallid and compressed.