Specimen #3

Coral Fungi

Figure 2: Clavulina Cristata



Figure 1: Up close picture of Clavulina Cristata



Name: Clavulina cristata
Common Name: White coral fungi

Family: Clavariaceae

Collection Date: 13th Sept. 2011 

Habitat: Found in clusters underneath trees.

Location: South Chargin Reservation
Description: About 1 inch tall. White in colour. One shoot with several branchings and tips of branches crown-shaped.  

Collector: Olivia Benjamin

Key used: Orson K. Miller Jr. 1977. Mushrooms of North America. E.P. Dutton New York.
Keying Steps:

Introduction Key pg. 233
1b. Multi branched fruiting bodies...5
5a. Delicately branched, without a fleshy base, whites spores...7
7b. Branches irregular to equal branching...8
8a. Branches irregular, with fine tips; white tinted yellow ---> 271. Clavulina Cristata

Ecology: This fungus is a saprotroph. Usually found in clusters or solitary on the ground or sometimes on rotten wood in both coniferous and hardwood forests. Widely distributed in North America (Kuo, 2007).
Kuo, M. (2007, April). Clavulina cristata. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clavulina_cristata.html

Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavulina_cristata
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Clavulina_cristata.html
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clavulina_cristata.html