Ramaria acrisiccescens

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ramaria acrisiccescens, commonly called the blah coral, is a coral fungus in the Gomphaceae family. It grows on the forest floor in mixed woods, usually under western hemlock, in northwestern North America (Washington and California). It was first described in 1974 from specimens collected near Elbe, Washington.

What it looks like:
- The fruit bodies are whitish and coral-like, usually 5–29 cm tall and 1.5–18 cm wide.
- Branches are slender and branch up to nine times; tips are rounded.
- The stipe (the stalk) is white when young; branches range from gray to beige to orange.
- The flesh is fleshy or fibrous and becomes brittle and chalky when dry; ages may bring pinkish or brown tones.
- Spore print is grayish-yellow. Spores are about 10.1 by 4.9 μm, cylindrical to elliptical with lobed warts.
- Basidia are club-shaped, usually four-spored, and about 40–90 by 7–13 μm.
- The species lacks basal clamps on the hyphae.

Where it grows:
- On the ground in mixed forests, especially under western hemlock; has been found in Washington and California.

Similar species:
- Ramaria velocimutans is similar but has brownish hyphae on the stipe and a brownish band within.