Conservation Status: Not of concern

Trichoglossum hirsutum is one of many black earth-tongues. Its name roughly translates as the "hairy hair tongue" and this indicates its main difference from the members of the genus, Geoglossum ("earth tongue"), which are also black but smooth and shiny, not velvety-hairy. The spores of T. hirsutum are brown, very long and narrow (80--210 x 5--7 µm), and contain about 15 cross-walls. Several other species are distinguished by spore length, number of cross-walls, and number of spores per ascus. Most of these seem to occur primarily in eastern North America, as do most of the geoglossums.