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Stictis is a genus of fungi in the family Stictidaceae. Most species are decomposers that inhabit dead wood, where they form small, flask-shaped fruiting bodies that remain largely embedded within their substrate and open through tiny pores. The genus is characterised by its distinctive white, frost-like rim that surrounds the fruiting bodies and thread-like divided by multiple septum. Modern molecular phylogenetics studies suggest that the current broad concept of Stictis will likely be split into several separate genera as the group undergoes taxonomic revision.
Later work has shown that Persoon's broad concept of Stictis will probably not survive modern scrutiny. Molecular and detailed morphological studies have demonstrated that many of the once used to separate genera in the Stictidaceae—particularly the presence or absence of tiny filaments () lining the fruiting body opening—vary within Stictis itself and therefore provide little guidance for drawing generic boundaries. Because the genus is large, taxonomically neglected, and most species are short-lived in the tropics, recent authors predict that the present, very broad concept of Stictis will eventually be broken up, as several independent lineages now grouped under the name are likely to be recognised as separate genera during a thorough revision of the family.
The apothecial wall () is typically three-layered and built from interwoven, narrow hyphae; it may include a false formed from compressed host tissue invaded by fungal . In a few species this tissue becomes gelatinous when moist. Just beneath the pore lies a crystalline layer from which filamentous arise; these hair-like elements may be simple or sparsely branched. The hymenium itself is packed with numerous thread-like paraphyses that can branch or swell at the tips and are often embedded in an iodine-positive (I⁺ blue) gel matrix.
ascus are cylindrical, functionally and contain four or eight . They possess a conspicuous, non-refractive apical cap pierced by an iodine-negative pore. The spores are typically long-cylindrical to thread-like, colourless, and divided by many transverse septum; some species develop a faint gelatinous sheath around each spore. No asexual fruit bodies are known, and thin-layer chromatography has yet to reveal any distinctive secondary metabolites in the genus.
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