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ramaria stricta
Fruiting Body: 4-14 cm high; 4-10 cm wide; base well developed or nearly absent; branching repeatedly. Branches: Vertically oriented and elongated; often flattened; smooth; yellowish buff, becoming orangish buff as the spores mature; bruising and discoloring purplish brown; tips yellow when fresh and young. Base: Nearly absent, or fairly well developed; to 2 cm wide; white below; colored like the branches above; attached to numerous white rhizomorphs. Flesh: Whitish; fairly tough. Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, or sweet and fragrant; taste bitter. Spore Print: Rusty yellowish. ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/ramaria_st... ) ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korallen_(P...) ) ( http://mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Ramaria_s... )
Ecology: Uncertain; while most ramarias are thought to be mycorrhizal, the wood-inhabiting species could be mycorrhizal or saprobic; growing from the dead (but sometimes buried) wood of conifers (and sometimes hardwoods); appearing alone, scattered, or gregariously; early summer through fall; apparently widely distributed in North America, but more common from the Rocky Mountains westward.
Chemical Reactions: Iron salts green on branches; KOH orangish to brownish on branches. Microscopic Features: Spores 7.5-10.5 x 3.5-5 µ; stretched-elliptical; roughened. Clamp connections present. Thick-walled hyphae present. Ramaria stricta is recognized by an upright stature, more or less parallel, dichotomous branching pattern and lignicolous habit. The typically pinkish-brown branches with slender pale-yellow tips are also important field characters. Several other coral fungi in the Bay Area grow on wood or buried wood, but all differ either in color or structure
Spotted on Dec 25, 2011
Submitted on Jan 4, 2012
1 Comment
clive, to be honest, i haven't enough expirience about some specific features (ecology,habitat,chemicals...), to make the descriptions myself.I get them from the internet (wikipedia,eol,discoverlife,hiddenforrest,MUSHROOMEXPERT,rogersmushrooms ?,eumycetozoan project,some ger/nl sites...etc.. and sometimes i translate my books), i'm good at spotting (doesn't matter how small) and with the latin name (mostly generas) i learned through the books.But i get crazy, with the swift taxanomy, lycoperdon/handkea/calvatia.. exipuliformis !! at every site or book is another name/synonym. This will sadly stay so,because of all the new research. Back to mycorrhizal: don't know for sure, the few coral-fungi i found, came from the same forrest, all in an area from 1km radius,mostly conifers. I thought this one was on buried wood or a root of the dead tree logs.