Serpula (fungus) are formed. The strand mycelium of "Serpula", which can be up to 8 mm thick, are invasive and can spread over non-nutritive surfaces to find new food sources, even spreading through pores in stone, brickwork, and cement. After its initial growth period, the fungus can produce the water it needs and can continue growth into dry timber, eventually degrading it to powder—hence the term "dry rot". "S. lacrymans" is the most serious cause of building timber decay in the UK and northern Europe. The "Dictionary of the Fungi" (10th edition, 2008), suggests that the genus contains two species. , the
Serpula (fungus) Serpula (fungus) Serpula is a genus of fungi in the family Serpulaceae. The term was originally defined by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon as a section of the genus "Merulius" in 1801. British botanist Samuel Frederick Gray raised it to genus status in his 1821 work "The Natural Arrangement of British Plants". The name is derived from the Latin verb "serpěre" "to creep". Synonyms include Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link's 1809 "Xylophagous", Christian Hendrik Persoon's 1825 "Xylomyzon", Narcisse Théophile Patouillard's 1874 "Gyrophora", and Patouillard's 1897 "Gyrophana". "Serpula" forms a clade with at least two other closely related genera, "Austropaxillus" and "Gymnopaxillus", the three