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Species Information
Summary: Clavulina coralloides has whitish branches with toothed crest at tips (may be grayish and less crested when infected with Helminthosphaeria clavariarum), brittle to tough flesh, whitish or grayish stem (stem sometimes absent), growth in fields or under trees, and nearly round smooth spores on 2-spored basidia. Some authors regard Clavulina rugosa as part of this species, and the Arora description used below appears to include this "unbranched to sparingly branched, wrinkled or knobby" taxon. Clavulina coralloides tends to be infected by the ascomycete Helminthosphaeria clavariarum, which "produces gray to black colors in the clavulina (caused by formation of its minute fruitbodies) and seems to reduce branching of the tips, both of which can lead to confusion with C. cinerea", (Trudell, with Latin name italicized). C. coralloides is found in OR (Zeller(2), Dunham(1)), and BC (Schalkwijk-Barendsen). It is one of the Pacific Northwest''s commonest coral fungi (Ammirati).
It is found in temperate regions of the whole world, and is common, (Corner(2)). There are collections from WA, OR, and CA at Oregon State University, and collections from BC at the Pacific Forestry Centre and the University of British Columbia. The University of Washington also has collections from AK.
Fruiting body: 2-4cm wide, 2.5-8cm high, densely branched tufts with jagged, fringed, or crested tips, (Phillips), branches polychotomous or dichotomous in lower part, the tips acute and generally becoming cristate-fimbriate [with a crest - fringed] or spicular-denticulate [with small spikes or teeth] (20-100 microns wide) or even reduced to single hyphae, often flattened, sometimes merely subulate [awl-shaped], (Corner), up to 5cm wide, 2-7(12)cm high, erect but variable in form, ''"typical" form branched but other forms sparsely or irregularly branched and still others unbranched'', branches smooth in typical form, uneven or knobby or longitudinally wrinkled or flattened in other forms, tips acute and often finely toothed in "typical" form but blunt and often enlarged in others, (Arora)
Flesh: "rather tough, or moderately brittle when turgid, sometimes hollow"; drying whitish, (Corner), brittle to rather tough; white, (Arora)
Branch color: whitish, often becoming yellow-tinged or ocher, rarely pinkish white, (Phillips), white often becoming tinged yellowish, ochraceous or fuliginous, rarely pinkish white, (Corner), usually white, but sometimes tinged gray, buff, yellowish, or pinkish, tips often darkening when old or in dry weather, (Arora)
Stem: up to 3cm long, sometimes none; whitish or grayish, (Phillips), 0.5-3cm long or practically absent, grayish when parasitized by Rosellinia clavariae, (Corner), present as sterile base, slender; white or darkened by a parasite, (Arora)
Odor: none in particular (Corner)
Taste: none in particular (Corner)
Microscopic: spores 7-11 x 6.5-10 microns, nearly round, smooth, slightly thick-walled, with one droplet; basidia 40-60 x 6-8 microns, sterigmata 5-7 microns long; hymenium thickening up to 200 microns, subhymenial hyphae 3-5 microns wide; cystidia none; hyphae 25-200 x 3-15 microns, shorter near hymenium, clamped, colorless, the walls very slightly thickened; sterile base of stem "with narrow hyphae, 3-7 microns wide, at the surface and loosely projecting hyphal ends 30-100 microns long, often with a few subclavate sterile basidia as a loose and very irregular sterile hymenium passing gradually or suddenly into the hymenium" at a distance of 0.2-0.5cm from the base of the stem, (Corner), spores 7-11 x 6.5-10 microns, basidia 2-spored, (Phillips)
Spore Deposit: white (Phillips)
Habitat / Range
single or scattered on ground in fields or under hardwoods and conifers, June to September, (Phillips), on the ground in fields and coniferous or hardwood woods, (Corner), July to October, (Lincoff), on the ground or dead wood (Courtecuisse), summer, fall, and early winter, (Miller), usually on soil, but at times on well-rotted wood, (Trudell)
Similar Species
Clavulina rugosa has wrinkled branches "and only limited branching, especially at the tips", (Trudell). C. rugosa "is typically unbranched or sparingly so near the apex", (Bessette). C. rugosa, "in its typical form looks very different (it has rugged surfaces, fewer branches, and blunt branch tips) but regularly appears to intergrade with Clavulina cristata and develop cristate branch tips.", (Kuo(7) with Latin name italicized). Clavulina cinerea lacks the crested tips, and is typically richly branched from the base upward, whereas C. coralloides is typically sparingly branched except near the crested tips, (Bessette). C. cinerea is lilac-grayish with wrinkled branches and less developed branching, (Trudell). C. cinerea is usually darker (Arora). Confusion is created when a species in the Clavulina coralloides group is attacked by the gray to blackish parasitic fungus, Helminthosphaeria clavariarum, making it harder to distinguish from Clavulina cinerea. There is an excellent discussion of this problem in Kuo(7). Helminthosphaeria clavariarum parasitizes both species from the base upwards, rendering them gray to black. ''Under a hand lens, the tiny black dots that form the perithecia of the pyrenomycete can be seen'' and under the microscope the differences are obvious. The black dots may be seen on larger digital images. Most Clavulina cinerea fruitbodies, as presented in field guides and on the Internet, ''display grayish to purplish gray (not dark gray or black) colors on the branches and paler surfaces near the base of the mushroom, suggesting that the gray surfaces above do not represent the influence of the parasite, which attacks from the base upward.''. ''However, even if Clavulina cinerea does not (usually) represent parasitization of Clavulina cristata, it may still merely represent a gray and frequently less cristate form or "ecotype" of the latter'', (Kuo(7) with Latin names italicized). Ramariopsis ''kunzei'' is also white and branched, but C. coralloides is distinguished by its frequently crested (finely toothed) branch tips, stem that tends to darken in age when attacked by a parasite, and smooth spores on 2-spored basidia, (Arora). See also SIMILAR section of Ramaria gracilis.
