Ramaria stricta

The species was originally described under the name Clavaria stricta by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1795. In 1888, French mycologist Lucien Quélet transferred the species to the genus Ramaria.

It is commonly known as the "upright coral".

The color of the fruit body is brownish to yellow, becoming paler toward extremities.{{cite book|last1=Trudell|first1=Steve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WevHvt6Tr8kC|title=Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest|last2=Ammirati|first2=Joe|publisher=Timber Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-88192-935-5|series=Timber Press Field Guides|location=Portland, OR|pages=249|language=en}} It bruises light reddish brown. The basidiocarp has a leathery texture when fresh, but becomes brittle when dry. Growing from a whitish base, the stipe is branched up to 8 times, and the branches are all upright and nearly parallel. The branches ending in 4 to 5 thornlike tips. Overall, the fruit body appears bushy, and is medium-sized, up to {{convert|10|by|7|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=8}}. The stipe is single or branching from the base, with white mycelium and rhizomorphs radiating from the base. The odor is of anise and the taste is bitter.

The fruit bodies have been described as "edible but unpalatable," although later field guides say the species is inedible.{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Roger |title=Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America |year=2010 |publisher=Firefly Books |location=Buffalo, NY |isbn=978-1-55407-651-2 |pages=356–57}}{{cite book|last=Miller Jr.|first=Orson K.|title=North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi|last2=Miller|first2=Hope H.|publisher=FalconGuide|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7627-3109-1|location=Guilford, CN|pages=349|author-link=Orson K. Miller Jr.}}

The spore print is dark yellow. Spores are roughly elliptical, dotted with low cyanophilous warts, and measure 7–10 by 3.5–5.5 μm. The basidia have basal clamps are mostly four-spored, and sometimes have cyanophilous granular contents.

Several variants have been described:

: var. alba

: var. concolor

: var. fumida

: var. violaceo-tincta

Another widespread and common coral, R. apiculata, typically grows on conifer wood, and bruises brown like R. stricta, but it has green pigmentation. R. apiculata is a dull buff-tan to dull orange-brown, and young fruit bodies often have white branch tips. R. gracilis prefers conifer wood, and has lighter colors than R. stricta. The tropical R. moelleriana can only be reliably distinguished from R. sticta by location and microscopic characteristics. R. flava is mycorrhizal, and grows under coniferous and deciduous trees. Its fruit bodies are typically taller, have a more unpleasant odor, and a less bitter taste. R. rubella (also known as R. acris) is pinkish tan, and R. tsugina stains green.

Ramaria stricta has a cosmopolitan distribution, and is a fairly common species. The fungus is lignicolous, common in late summer and fall in coniferous forests of the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountains. The fungus grows on dead wood, stumps, trunks, and branches of both leafy and coniferous trees. The form that grows on deciduous wood tends to be more orange and less bushy than those which grow on coniferous wood. Fruit bodies can form in "log lines" where decaying wood is buried underground near the surface, or is in an advanced state of decomposition.

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

{{cite book |author=Arora D. |title=Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi |publisher=Ten Speed Press |location=Berkeley, California |year=1986 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mushroomsdemysti00aror_0/page/648 648–9] |isbn=0-89815-169-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mushroomsdemysti00aror_0/page/648 }}

{{cite book |author=Corner EJH. |title=A monograph of Clavaria and allied genera |series=Annals of Botany Memoirs |year=1950 |volume=1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |pages=623–4}}

{{cite book |author=Kibby G. |title=An Illustrated Guide to Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America |publisher=Lubrecht & Cramer |location=London, UK |year=1994 |page=139 |isbn=0-681-45384-2}}

{{cite book |author=Orr DB, Orr RT. |title=Mushrooms of Western North America |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |year=1979 |page=68 |isbn=0-520-03656-5}}

{{cite journal |title=Observationes mycologicae |journal=Annalen der Botanik (Usteri) |year=1795 |author=Persoon CH. |volume=15 |pages=1–39}}

{{cite book |author=Quélet L. |title=Flore mycologique de la France et des pays limitrophes |publisher=Octave Doin |location=Paris, France |year=1888 |page=464 |language=French |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1654232/f491.image.r=flore%20mycologique.langEN}}

{{cite book |author=Roberts P, Evans S. |title=The Book of Fungi |year=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=503 |isbn=978-0-226-72117-0}}

{{cite book |author=Schalkwijk-Barendsen HME. |title=Mushrooms of Western Canada |publisher=Lone Pine Publishing |location=Edmonton, Canada |year=1991 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mushroomsofweste0000scha/page/363 363] |isbn=0-919433-47-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/mushroomsofweste0000scha/page/363 }}

{{cite book |title=Mushrooms of Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. Vol. 2. Non-gilled Hymenomycetes |author=Tylukti EE. |year=1987 |publisher=The University of Idaho Press |location=Moscow, Idaho |pages=98–9 |isbn=0-89301-097-9}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.mycobank.org/Biolomics.aspx?Table=Mycobank&MycoBankNr_=355674 |title=Ramaria stricta (Pers.) Quél. 1888 |publisher=MycoBank. International Mycological Association |access-date=2011-10-21}}

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Category:Gomphaceae

Category:Fungi of Europe

Category:Fungi of North America

Category:Inedible fungi

Category:Fungi described in 1795

Category:Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon

Category:Fungus species