Clavariadelphus pistillaris
Description
🔎 Found in the ancient beech forests of Europe and North America, Clavariadelphus pistillaris, also known as the Common Club Coral, is a rare, coral mushroom. It thrives during the summer and autumn on calcareous soil, often blending into the leaf litter and woodchips around it. Despite its large size—growing between 10 to 30 cm tall—its yellow-brown to cinnamon-hued, club-shaped body can become camouflaged with age.
🍄 The mushroom’s fruiting body is wrinkled and matte, with a rounded top. Its flesh is spongy and white. There's no clear stem-to-cap distinction, as the entire club is fertile, developing a frosty texture as the spores mature.
🍽️ Although edible, this mushroom isn't highly sought after as food. However, it's celebrated for its medicinal potential, particularly for its high antioxidant activity and essential fatty acid content, making it a potential "nutraceutical."
🌍 Distribution-wise, while rare in northern Europe and the British Isles, this giant club is more common in southern Europe and North America, and has been spotted in temperate regions worldwide.
🧚🏻♀️ Looking like something out of a myth, Clavariadelphus pistillaris resembles a club wielded by goblins or trolls! Originally named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it was reclassified in 1933 by mycologist Marinus Donk. Its name reflects its club-like shape, similar to a pestle.
Common names: Common Club Coral, Giant Club, Mazza d’Ercole, Bastone d’Ercole, Titina de vaca (Italian); Mano de mortero, Mano de almirez, Porra, bossa, Joiki arrunt (Spanish); Clavaire en massue, Clavaire en pilon (French); Large-clubbed Clavaria (English) and Herkuleskeule (German).
Mushroom Identification
🍄 Fruit Body: The fruit body starts off light yellow and transitions to orange-brownish, yellow-brown, or ochre. As it ages, the mushroom takes on a reddish to red-brown tint, sometimes with a hint of purple. The color darkens toward the base. While young, the surface is smooth, but as it matures, it becomes more rugged. These mushrooms can grow anywhere from 2.76–11.81 inches (7–30 cm) in height and 0.79–2.36 inches (2–6 cm) in thickness.
🍖 Flesh: Initially firm, the flesh softens into a spongy but compact texture. When cut, the white flesh turns violaceous-brownish, particularly staining brown in the lower part.
👃👅 Odor and Taste: The smell is pleasant but subtle. Young mushrooms may taste bitter, so be cautious!
🌳 Habitat: Found in the summer and autumn, these mushrooms thrive in broadleaf forests, especially under beech trees. They can appear alone or in small groups.
🌿 Spore Print: The spore powder is white at first but turns yellow with storage.
🔬 Spores: Ellipsoidal and elongated, these spores measure 10-12 × 7-8 µm. They are guttulate (contain oil droplets) and non-amyloid.
🔍 Basidia: Clavate (club-shaped), tetrasporic (four-spored), and sometimes bisporic (two-spored), the basidia can grow up to 122.5 µm long with joint buckles.
⚗️ Chemical Reactions: The hymenium (spore-bearing surface) reacts with SO₄H₂, turning a bright yellow. When exposed to KOH, the flesh turns gold-yellow, and with SO₄Fe, it shifts to green-gray.
Look-Alikes
It is thicker with a truncated top and orange-yellow to brownish color. Unlike C. pistillaris, it doesn’t have the smooth, elongated form or creamy tones, and its flesh lacks significant color changes when cut.
Thinner and more delicate than C. pistillaris, C. ligula is pale yellow to beige and lacks the robust, cylindrical shape.
Video
Synonyms and Varietes
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Clavaria pistillaris Linnaeus (1753)
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Clavaria simplex Scopoli (1760), Flora carniolica, Edn 1, p. 59
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Clavaria pistillaris var. ζ Scopoli(1772), Flora carniolica, Edn 2, 2, p. 483
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Clavaria gemmata Schaeffer (1774), Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam, 4, p. 122, tab. 290
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Clavaria herculeana Lightfoot (1777), Flora scotica, 2, p. 1056
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Clavaria militaris Batsch (1783), Elenchus fungorum, p. 135
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Helvella fuliginosa J.F. Gmelin (1792), Systema naturae, Edn 13, 2, p. 1449 (nom. illegit.)
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Clavaria pulvinata Persoon (1797), Commentatio de fungis clavaeformibus, p. 65
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Clavaria pistillaris var. d divisa Persoon (1797), Commentatio de fungis clavaeformibus, p. 64
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Clavaria pistillaris var. γ gemmata (Schaeffer) Persoon (1797)
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Clavaria pistillaris var. ß herculeana (Lightfoot) Persoon (1797)
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Clavaria pistillaris var. γ pulvinata (Persoon) Persoon (1801)
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Clavaria spathulata Chevallier (1826)
Photo copyright:
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