Specimen #4

Coral Fungi

Figure 1: Clavicorona pyxidata

Figure 2: Clavicorona pyxidata

Name: Clavicorona pyxidata

Family: Clavariaceae
Common Name: Crown-tipped Coral Fungi

Collection Date: 13th Sept. 2011 

Habitat: Found in clusters underneath trees.

Location: South Chargin Reservation
Description: About 1 inch tall. Tan 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. Multiple-branched fruiting bodies...5
5a. Delicately branched, without a fleshy base; spores white...7
7b. Branches irregular to equal branching...8
8b. Branches equal with crown-like tips; pale pink to tan ---> 272. Clavicorona pyxidata

Ecology: This fungus grows from June-September throughout North America. Usually found growing on rotten or decaying wood. Very distinguishable because of its crown-like tips (Kuo, 2007).
Kuo, M. (2007, April). Artomyces pyxidatus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/artomyces_pyxidatus.html

Links
http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Fungi_Miller_Stevens_Rumann/Pages/clavicorona_pyxidata_page.html
http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/club%20and%20coral/species%20pages/Clavicorona%20pyxidata.htm
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/artomyces_pyxidatus.html