Corals

Make sure your "coral" isn't too much like plant material. It may be a lichen, a symbiosis between a fungus and green algae or cyanobacteria, found on wood, bare ground or even bare rocks, unrelated to the fungi on this page. Lichens are not covered in this key.

X. hypoxylon grp - this flask is unrelated, but often not covered in the pimples that identify what it really is.

Sparassis/Cotylidia/Stereopsis - first the fan shaped species. These are pale with wide, flat "petals". When young, there may not be multiple petals and they will not be coral shaped and difficult to find here. Stereopsis is never coral shaped, but its similarity to Cotylidia seems to make this page its best fit. Sometimes slightly veined underneath the lobes, and perhaps might be searched for in that category. Found on the ground. Saprophytic.

Sparassis radicata ('crispa') - the cauliflower mushroom (although perhaps it should be called the noodle mushroom). Up to 50cm across, smooth wide petals, found on the ground. A member of the Polyporales. A prized edible for its long shelf life. Saprophytic.

Cotylidia diaphana - whitish, fan coral. <5cm. Hymenochaetales.

C. pannosa - orange fan, somewhat coral like. <5cm.

Stereopsis humphreyi - <3cm, true stem, and a cleft but not coral fan. Coastal. Hymenochaetales.

Thelephora/Craterellus/Polyozellus - dark coloured fan or tube shaped mushrooms found on the ground. Thelephora has brown nodulose spores. Polyozellus has white nodulose spores. They may all be mycorrhizal.

T. terrestris - wide fans, <10cm. Thelephorales.

T. caryophyllea - wide fans, small, delicate with fringed edges. <5cm

T. palmata - tube to fan-shaped branches, stinks to high heaven! <10cm.

T. caespitulans - much like a small T. palmata without the odor, <2.5cm

Polyozellus multiplex grp - the blue chanterelle, growing in large clusters 15cm high and even wider. Thelephorales. See their page for species details.

Craterellus calicornucopioides - Not to be confused with this delicious black chanterelle, with veins that are particularly hard to detect. Cantharellales.

Tremellodendropsis tuberosa - somewhat gelatinous, tough and not very brittle. Pinkish-tan, growing on the ground. Less highly branched than Ramaria, Lentaria and Clavulina, but easily confused with Clavulina rugosa. <10cm high. Probably saprophytic. In the order Sebacinales or Auriculariales.

Clavulinopsis/Ramariopsis - There is something a little bit "cleaner" and more delicate about these few corals than the multitudes that will come next. It's hard to explain, like Hydnum vs. Sarcodon. Clavulinopsis has both a club and a coral shaped mushroom, and Ramariopsis is closely related but with spores with small spines. They are in the Agaricales and found on the ground. Some are rumoured to be mycorrhizal, I am unclear.

Clavulinopsis corniculata - <9cm, like Calocera viscosa but brittle, not jelly, and on the ground. Sometimes club-shaped. Ramarias are larger and denser.

Ramariopsis crocea - <1.5cm, much smaller, more delicate and brighter.

Ramariopsis kunzei - <10cm, much cleaner white than Clavulina, Lentaria or Ramaria.

Clavulina - small, white to yellowish to grey corals found on the ground, easily confused with pale Lentarias or Ramarias (which are sometimes on wood and often bitter), but neither are nearly as common. Clavulina is more likely to have "busier" branch tips and be closer to white overall. They are mostly <10cm. They are mycorrhizal, and related to chanterelles! (Cantharellales).

C. coralloides (cristata) - whitish, highly branched with toothed crests at the tips. Not a clean white like Ramariopsis, but usually whiter than Ramaria, with busier tips.

Grey specimens are parasitized by Helminthosphaeria clavariarum (a flask). Pimples visible under a hand lens.

Clavulina reae - grey branches in age, evenly coloured and no pimpling. Pale branches are blunt like C. 'rugosa' when young.

Clavulina 'cinerea' - a second similar species of which not much is known.

C. 'rugosa' - blunt or flattened, wrinkled, white coral, never greying, not highly branched. See Tremellodendropsis.

C. 'castaneipes' - a coral with a brown hairy stem! Branches may look like C. rugosa (pictured) or C. cristata.

Artomyces - recognized by the tips forming a round crown shape. In the Russulales.

Artomyces piperatus - creamy coral with crown shaped tips on wood. Tastes hot!

Artomyces cristatus - each fruitbody only has a few branches, if any.

Lentaria - small, much like Clavulina but sometimes bitter, not as highly branched and with white tips that look less "busy". Found on conifer wood, like some pale Ramarias (which are usually taller). Abundant white rhizomorphs (mycelial threads) at the base. Probably saprophytic.

Lentaria pinicola grp - pale white, yellow to tan with white tips, darkening when handled, on conifer wood. May be bitter. <5cm, and not taller than it is wide. Less busily branched than Clavulina. Usually whiter than the small Ramarias on wood.

Lentaria epichnoa - reported from BC.

Ramaria - the classic common PNW large and colourful coral mushrooms, although some of them are small and drab as well, and can be confused with previous species on this page. The bright orange ones are larger and more complex than Clavulinopsis/Ramariopsis. Ramarias have spores with warts and/or ridges. Currently, Ramaria is divided into four subgenera, but these groups are not their own closest relatives so they will probably get four different genus names in the future. The veined club-like fungi Gomphus, Turbinellus and Clavariadelphus are found in between different subgenera of Ramaria. Also, many species of Ramaria have two to five varieties described that some people distinguish, which are not covered here. Many Ramarias are mycorrhizal, but subgenera Echinoramaria (now called Phaeoclavulina) and Lentoramaria often grow on wood and may be saprophytic. Ramarias are very difficult to ID because there are so many similar species and the bright colours of young fruit bodies will fade as they age and they all end up brownish. They may fade within an hour or two of picking! Fresh young specimens are usually necessary.

There are a few chemical tests that can help you identify Ramarias. Iodine will turn the stem flesh black in a few species, and FeSO4 will turn the flesh inside the base of the stem green in a few others.

Here are a bunch of old Ramarias, some of which could literally be almost anything. Maybe they used to be bright red, pink, salmon, violet or orange. Even bright yellow species might age to brownish. Who knows.

Subgenus Echinoramaria (now known as Phaeoclavulina) - small corals with pale yellow-brown colours, found on the ground. These usually taste bitter. Usually <5cm, with rhizomorphs around the base like Lentaria. Spores more sharply spiny. Most easily confused with Clavulina, which is never bitter and more whitish or grey, and with subgenus Lentoramaria (covered next, so check there too). Drab Laeticolora, further below, are taller.

Phaeoclavulina abietina - yellowish branches turn green on handling. Tall, <10cm. (See also Ramaria apiculata in Lentoramaria.)

P. mutabilis - the stem turns slightly green.

P. glaucoaromatica - everything turns green except the bright white stem base. Smells like maple when dried. Idaho.

P. myceliosa - yellowish. Branches said to be more open.

P. curta - branches said to be smaller and more congested.

P. eumorpha - yellowish rhizomorphs at the base instead of the usual white.

Subgenus Lentoramaria - contains more small, pale, blah corals, found either on the ground or on wood. They, too, often taste bitter. They could also easily be confused with Clavulina and Lentaria as well as with anything in subgenus Echinoramaria (but those are shorter or differently coloured). Spores more bluntly warty. This section may not all be related, and may need to be further split up. Drab looking Laeticolora, further below, are taller, brown or yellowish or pale and found on the ground, whereas the tall species in this section are usually found on wood.

Ramaria rubella - when fresh with pink tones and white branch tips, on the ground. May grow >5cm.

R. suecica - pale pinkish tones, white branch tips, on the ground. ~5cm.

R. gracilis/rainierensis - drab. R. gracilis has whiter branch tips, found on the ground. Usually ~2.5cm.

R. apiculata - tips sometimes turn green (like the lower branches of Phaeoclavulina abietina) but on wood. Not as yellowish, but sometimes reddish. <8cm.

R. tsugina - similar.

R. stricta - taller than wide, branches vertical, yellow tones, on wood. <15cm. Bruises brown where handled. Always bitter. R. acrisiccescens, below, is similar but on the ground.

R. concolor - may be the same as R. stricta without yellow tones, on wood. <15cm. Also bitter.

Subgenus Ramaria (R. botrytis grp) - bushy cauliflower shaped corals as much as 10-20cm high or wide that are generally pale with bright pink to purple tips when young, found on the ground. The pink may fade, and the stem flesh usually discolours in age. You might notice that they all look alike. Most other red Ramarias are a different shade of red that is also in the branches or not cauliflower shaped. The stem flesh is amyloid, meaning it eventually darkens in iodine, and this group has the longest spores in Ramaria.

Ramaria botrytis - tips pale red or lilac (pale orange in one variety), weakly amyloid.

R. rubrievanescens - branch tips quickly fade from peachy pink or light orange to white, quicker amyloid reaction.

R. rubripermanens - the only one with stem flesh that doesn't discolour. Spring and autumn.

R. subviolacea - purplish branch tips becoming very pale, quickest amyloid reaction. Spring and autumn.

Subgenus Laeticolora - most of the large, beautiful, colourful Ramarias found on the ground belong here. The most common colours you will find are yellow, orange and peach, but they also come in red and purple as well as drab colours. The shape of different species may or may not strongly resemble the shape of cauliflower. There are a few species that have something distinctive that helps identify them: a rusty root (a rust coloured band of stem flesh) or a stem that stains red wine colour (others have stem flesh that stains brown, or not at all). Some have a yellow belly band where the upper stem has a band of yellow around it. Microscopically, some of them have cells that are not "clamped", which is unusual (and difficult to detect without a lot of experience), but they all seem to be related. You will have to find a young one and note its colours, because they fade quickly as they age making it hard to tell the difference. Some species have a black iodine (amyloid) reaction or a green positive reaction to FeSO4 inside the stem flesh. Do not test the outside, that is almost always FeSO4 positive!

First let's get the drab species out of the way. These are mostly larger than the drab Echinoramaria (Phaeoclavulina) and Lentoramaria, up to 10cm or larger, and not found on wood.

Ramaria testaceoflava - taller than wide, dark chocolate brown, with yellow (when fresh), bitter, slowly stains reddish brown in age and when handled. Stem flesh green in FeSO4.

R. marrii - chocolate without the yellow, maybe bitter, slight brown staining, spring.

R. acrisiccescens - even taller than wide (sometimes >20cm), paler yellow-brown, also bitter, also staining brown. Similar to Lentoramaria R. stricta (above).

R. velocimutans - in the yellow section, with a rusty root, may be whitish. Stem flesh green in FeSO4.

Next up are the red or purple species. These are perhaps the most striking of any mushrooms. They grow up to ~10cm or so in each direction.

R. araiospora - beautiful red coral, var. araiospora has yellow tips, var. rubella does not.

R. stuntzii - similar, usually more like cauliflower, may have orange tones, has amyloid flesh.

R. cyaneigranosa - young red colours are more muted, but much like R. araiospora var. araiospora.

R. caulifloriformis - cauliflower shaped, pale pinkish tan tips that turn dark brown in age, resembles R. botrytis but stem flesh not amyloid. Spring and fall.

R. coulterae - also cauliflower like, resembles R. rubripermanens but stem flesh not amyloid, rusty root, spring.

R. botrytoides - bright pink tips, no rusty root, flesh not amyloid. Very bitter!

R. violaceibrunnea (fennica/versatilis) - purple-grey young branches.

R. fumosiavellanea - more entirely purple-grey.

R. purpurissima - brilliant purple, stocky, stem somewhat staining.

Next let's tackle the yellow species, those that don't have orange or peach tones when freshest, although they may turn orange-brown in age! At that point ID gets hopeless without a microscope. They usually get up to 15cm high or so. This page has been difficult to use so far, but now it unfortunately gets even worse. The yellow and orange Ramarias are especially difficult to tell apart without a microscope.

R. cartilaginea - a variation of R. caulifloriformis with dull yellow-tan tips. Cauliflower.

R. rasilispora - spring, yellow to orange-yellow cauliflower. Somewhat amyloid stem flesh.

R. magnipes - spring clone of R. rasilispora, also amyloid. Stem base is covered with a soft white coating and may stain brown.

R. thiersii - spring at high altitudes, pale yellow, flesh somewhat browning.

R. cystidiophora - brightest yellow, erect not cauliflower-like, smells sweet, like licorice, floral or bean-like, stem may stain brown to wine. One variety has colours like R. formosa.

R. flavobrunnescens - less bright yellow, floral smell, stem not staining but stem flesh somewhat yellow-brown.

R. velocimutans - white to yellow, rusty root. Stem flesh bright green in FeSO4. May grow up to 30cm!

R. vinosimaculans - ivory to creamy yellow, wine staining base.

R. rubiginosa - very similar coral, wine staining base. Perhaps faintly FeSO4+ or I+.

R. synaptopoda - a more compound stem with small wine stains, smaller, ~5cm

R. flavigelatinosa - four varieties with gelatinous stem flesh like R. gelatinosa, may have sweet or bean-like odor. Branches may be yellow or orange.

Finally, the confusing array of orange Ramarias. Some are more peachy with yellow tips (the "formosa" colour scheme) and others are orange with yellow tips or just orange. Every Ramaria kind of looks orange-brown when it's old. Also growing to 15cm or so.

R. formosa - peach branches, yellow tips, flesh browns where handled, usually thick stem.

R. cystidiophora may be similarly coloured, but smells of licorice.

R. conjunctipes - formosa-like, tall with narrow sparsely branched stems joined at base. No staining.

R. raveneliana is a smaller version (<4cm)

R. leptoformosa - another tall formosa-like species, brighter colours, more orange than peach. No staining.

R. rubricarnata - a spring formosa with amyloid flesh. Flesh does not stain strongly, yellow belly band. Fall fruitings look much like R. formosa.

R. largentii - completely orange, sometimes brightest at tips, wide and dense.

R. longispora - orange with yellow tips, yellow belly band, no staining. Single, often swollen stem.

R. aurantiisiccescens - also completely orange especially at tips, less dense, yellow belly band.

R. armeniaca - also usually brightest orange at the tips, no belly band, spring.

R. gelatinosa - very gelatinous inside the stem, formosa colours when fresh.

R. verlotensis - cauliflower shape w/overall pinkish-yellow colours, somewhat gelatinous

R. flavigelatinosa - four varieties with gelatinous stem flesh like R. gelatinosa, may have sweet or bean-like odor. Branches may be orange or yellow.

R. sandaracina - three varieties with orange to salmon branches and sometimes a sweet or bean-like odor, indistinctly to distinctly gelatinous stem flesh, sometimes with a yellow belly band.

R. gelatiniaurantia - two varieties, one distinctly gelatinous with deep orange branches and tips and a yellow belly band and the other less gelatinous, with apricot yellow branches and yellow tips.

R. amyloidea - formosa colours with a rusty root, strongly amyloid. Stem flesh green in FeSO4.

R. celerivirescens - rusty root "formosa" like R. amyloidea but only weakly amyloid. Stem flesh also green in FeSO4.

R. 'claviramulata' - a chubby deformed R. celerivirescens, but not a distinct species.

R. rubribrunnescens - formosa colours with wine staining base.

R. maculatipes - similar, slow amyloid reaction (45 min)

There is a beautiful full colour book with many more species than shown here, Ramaria of the Pacific Northwestern United States by Ronald L. Exeter, Lorelei Norvell and Efrén Cázares available here. You should at least download and print the free poster and hang it in your room.