How to identify it?
Fruiting Body
Fruiting body medium sized; bulbous, white to grayish.

Flesh
Flesh firm and white when young, then semi-fleshy and black, finally becomes a mass of powdery teliospores.
Habit & Habitat
The species is parasitic on corn cobs; it appears in cultivated areas, particularly cornfields.

Scientific Classification

Phylum
Club fungi Class
Smut fungi Order
Ustilaginales Family
Ustilaginaceae Genus
Ustilago Species
Corn smut