Coral-like mushrooms: photos and descriptions of edible and inedible species
The variety of representatives of the Mushroom Kingdom sometimes boggles the mind. Some of the most unusual species are coral-like mushrooms. The brightest representatives are xilaria hypoxilon, aciniform stag, clavulina comb, gummy calotsera and horn-shaped stag. You can familiarize yourself with the description and photos of coral mushrooms in this material.
Edible coral-like mushrooms with a white and yellow body
Ungulate horned (Ramaria botrytis).
Family: Gomphaceae.
Season: Aug. Sept.
Growth: singly and in groups.
Description:
The branches are thick, tapering upwards, their ends are cut off, at first reddish, brown leathery by old age.
The leg is massive, dense, whitish.
The pulp is brittle, whitish-yellowish, with a pleasant smell and mild taste.
This coral-like mushroom is edible at a young age. Requires preliminary boiling.
Ecology and distribution:
Grows in deciduous and mixed forests, especially near beeches. It is rare.
Clavulina cristata
Family: Clavulinaceae
Season: mid-July - October
Growth: singly and in groups
Description:
The branches are pointed, with lobed flat comb tops. The branches of this mushroom are like white or cream-colored corals.
The fruit body is bushy, branched; the base forms a short, dense stalk.
The pulp is fragile, light, without a special smell, sometimes with a bitter aftertaste.
Poor quality edible mushroom.
Ecology and distribution:
It grows in deciduous (with birch), more often coniferous and mixed forests, on litter, on soil, in grass.
Curly sparassis (Sparassis crispa).
Family: Sparassidaceae (Sparassidaceae).
Season: August - October.
Growth: singly.
Description:
The pulp is brittle, white, with a nutty taste. The leg is thick, deeply buried in the ground, whitish or yellowish.
The fruit body of this fungus is yellow or white coral, irregularly spherical in shape, consists of many branched wavy plates. One of the surfaces of the plates is spore-bearing.
The leg is thick, deeply buried in the ground, whitish or yellowish.
The mushroom is edible only at a young age. Fruit bodies that have acquired a brownish color become very hard.
Ecology and distribution:
It grows on roots, at the base of trunks, less often on fresh stumps of coniferous trees (mainly pine) in old-growth coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests.
Inedible coral mushrooms
Calocera viscosa.
Family: Dacrymycetaceae.
Season: early July - October.
Growth: singly and in groups.
Description:
The tips of the twigs are pointed.
The fruit body is bushy, slightly branched, dark yellow or orange, slightly sticky.
The pulp is dense, rubbery, odorless.
The mushroom is inedible due to the rubbery consistency of the pulp.
Ecology and distribution:
It grows on wood immersed in the soil, more often in a coniferous forest.
Xylaria hypoxylon (Xylaria hypoxylon).
Family: Xylariales (Xylariales).
Season: September - November.
Growth: in groups or in a bundle.
Description:
The branches are first pointed, then bifurcated or fan-shaped at the top. The base of the fruiting body is brownish.
The pulp is dry, tough, white. In late autumn, unbranched fruit bodies appear. Fruit bodies are bushy conidia.
White plaque of conidial spores of the body. Weakly branching form.
The pulp is dry, tough, white.
This coral-like mushroom is inedible due to its hard consistency.
Ecology and distribution:
It grows on stumps, decaying wood of deciduous trees (oak), less often conifers (spruce).
Horn-shaped hornbeam (Clavulinopsis corniculata).
Family: Horned (Clavariaceae).
Season: late fall.
Growth: singly and in groups.
Description:
The pulp is brittle, with a powdery odor.
The fruit body is branching, the color varies from sulfur-yellowish to reddish. Spores form over the entire surface of the fruit bodies.
The base is white, with a felt-like surface
This coral mushroom is inedible.
Ecology and distribution:
It grows mainly where there are suede meadows and moorlands, loves coastal hawthorn thickets and wet woodlands, where there is a lot of ash.
Check out what coral-like mushrooms look like in these photos:
