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Species Information
Summary: Ramaria apiculata var. brunnea differs from R. apiculata var. apiculata in the absence of the greenish tints, and is at least as common as the type variety. The description is derived from Petersen(11). One theory for the absence of green coloration in this variety and its presence in var. apiculata is that the green color is a response to cold temperatures. A form of this variety found in ID, MI, and ON, (f. compacta (Bourdot & Galzin) R.H. Petersen) "is characterized by the proliferation of enormous numbers of branches which become so compressed than they often anastomose. Colors are typical for the variety, without green pigmentation present on any specimen I have seen", (Petersen).
R. apiculata var. brunnea has been found in BC, WA, ID, AB, MB, NS, ON, AL, AZ, CO, IN, IA, KY, MI, MN, MT, NC, NJ, NM, NY, OH, PA, TN, TX, UT, WI, Finland, Italy, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom, also found GA, and Mexico, (Petersen).
Fruiting body: up to 5cm wide, up to 8cm high, repeatedly branched, branches 0.2-0.4cm thick, often flattened or channeled, axils narrowly rounded to narrowly acute, often decurrent by a line, internodes somewhat long, and not abruptly shortening, tips either erect, somewhat elongated, strict, or flattened and then somewhat palmate and polychotomous
Flesh: in stem tough and fibrous
Branch color: cinnamon color where fertile, and slowly bruno-rufescent where bruised, tips light cinnamon color when young, becoming darker, the palmate tips often becoming slightly olivine when dried
Stem: usually discrete, 0.3-0.7cm wide, often branched almost from base, dull brown, colored as branches, or occasionally covered with basal tomentum up to 0.5cm high, fruitbody "arising from a small patch of white, appressed, minutely felty to mealy basal tomentum" that extends from the fruitbody base and branches through the substrate, mycelium white and mealy, often with very slender (less than 0.1cm thick), mealy, ill-defined, white rhizomorphic strands
Chemical Reactions: spore-bearing surface in ferric sulphate in water dull slate green, browning in KOH to deep copper color, sections of branches in KOH leach yellow into solution
Taste: mildly acrid [peppery] or mildly astringent
Microscopic: spores 9.2-11.0(11.5) x 3.8-5.0 microns, average 9.79 x 4.51 microns, narrowly ovoid to elliptic, roughened in profile, ornamentation of scattered, small, strongly cyanophilic, non-anastomosing warts, contents homogeneous or with one obscure droplet, weakly cyanophilic, apiculus prominent, eccentric, truncate, and weakly cyanophilic; basidia 4-spored, 35-50 x 7-7.5 microns, clavate, clamped, homogeneous to granular or minutely multiguttulate, sterigmata up to 6 microns long, slender, slightly bowed; hyphae of rhizomorphic strands monomitic, of two types, 1) generative, 2.5-4.5 microns wide, colorless, thin-walled, with conspicuous clamp connections, inflated clamp connections up to 20 microns broad, thin-walled to somewhat thick-walled (wall up to 0.5 microns thick), clavate to elongate-clavate, usually delicately ornamented, and 2) skeletalized generative segments, 2.1-4.5 microns wide, thick-walled (wall up to 0.8 microns thick), usually over 1000 microns long, arising from and ending in a clamp connection, locally common to (usually) extremely rare or absent in many mounts; hyphae of basal tomentum of generative identical to above; hyphae of fruitbody base skeletalized (not skeletals), with clamp connections; hyphae of branch trama 2.5-7.5 microns, thin-walled, with conspicuous clamp connections, inflated clamp connections rare
Spore Deposit: dull ochraceous
Habitat / Range
single, gregarious, or cespitose, common on rotting conifer wood, more rarely on hardwood; late summer through fall; for forma compacta, on very rotten wood or (preferably) sawdust heaps, the form being perhaps due to greater temperature generated by bacterial action or greater substrate surface area
Similar Species
Ramaria concolor is similar in stature, and to a lesser extent in color, but branching does not tend to be flattened, color is somewhat lighter, and rhizomorphic strands are not monomitic, (Petersen). Ramaria rubella is ruddy or ruddy purple, and rhizomorphic strands turn bright pinkish brown in 10% KOH, not weak brown, and it also has spores that are broadly ovoid rather than elliptic, (Petersen). Ramaria stricta has dimitic hyphae in the rhizomorphic strands, (Petersen). See also SIMILAR section of Ramaria apiculata var. apiculata and Ramaria rubella forma rubella.
