Ramaria formosa
| Ramaria formosa | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Gomphales |
| Family: | Gomphaceae |
| Genus: | Ramaria |
| Species: | R. formosa |
| Binomial name | |
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Ramaria formosa (Pers.) Quél. (1888) |
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| Synonyms | |
| Ramaria formosa | |
|---|---|
| Mycological characteristics | |
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smooth hymenium |
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no distinct cap |
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hymenium attachment is irregular or not applicable |
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stipe is bare |
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spore print is yellow |
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ecology is mycorrhizal |
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edibility: poisonous |
Ramaria formosa, commonly known as the beautiful clavaria, handsome clavaria, yellow-tipped- or pink coral fungus, is a coral fungus found in Asia, Europe and North America. It is widely held to be mildly poisonous if consumed, giving rise to acute gastrointestinal symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and colicky pain. It is a pinkish, much-branched coral-shape reaching some 20 cm (8 in) high. Some forms collected in North America often lack the bitter taste common to European specimens and may represent a different species.
The fungus was initially described by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1797 as Clavaria formosa. In 1821, Elias Magnus Fries sanctioned the genus name Clavaria, and treated Ramaria as a section of Clavaria. It was placed in its current genus by French mycologist Lucien Quélet in 1888.Synonyms have resulted from transfers of the fungus to the now obsolete genera Merisma by Harald Othmar Lenz in 1831, and to Corallium by Gotthold Hahn in 1883.
The generic name is derived from Latin rāmus 'branch', while the specific epithet comes from the Latin formōsus 'beautiful'.Common names include salmon coral, beautiful clavaria, handsome clavaria, yellow-tipped- or pink coral fungus. There is some confusion over its classification as there is evidence the binomial name has been applied loosely to any coral fungus fitting the description, and thus some collections from North America may be a different species.
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Wikipedia