Clavariadelphus pistillaris

What You Should Know

Clavariadelphus pistillaris is a rare species of mushroom of the family Gomphaceae native to Europe and North America. It grows during summer and autumn almost exclusively in beech forests on calcareous soil on litter and woodchips.

The mat and wrinkled fruiting body have the shape of a club with a rounded top. Its length varies between 10 cm and 30 cm and its width is between 1 cm and 5 cm. The skin is yellow-brown to ocher yellow, sometimes cinnamon brown with a lilac tint, turning brown when damaged. The spongy flesh is white. The spore print is pale yellow. It has a weak, but pleasant scent.

The species is recorded as being edible. There have been reports of the mushroom being a "nutraceutical and/or functional food" due to its high antioxidant activity and containing essential fatty acids.

Other names: 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).

Clavariadelphus pistillaris Mushroom Identification

1. Carpophore

   7-15 (30) cm high × 2-6 cm broad, typically clavate, from cylindroid to strongly clavate, with rounded or convex apex, at times enlarged in the upper part of the club; finely rugged surface, especially in the upper part where the hymenophore is placed. The color is ochre-yellow, orange-yellow, the spread of violet in the medium-lower part, when ripe it becomes again ochre-yellow due to the ripening of the spores, the basal part from paler to white; due to the handling, when touched it tends to get a violaceous-brown coloration. The base of the carpophore has some white mycelial cords at the base of the stem.

2. Hymenophore

   Placed in the upper part of the club, little differentiated, it is finely rugged, pruinose when ripe.

3. Flesh

   Initially firm, then soft and spongy but yet compact, white, becomes violaceous brownish when cut, it stains of brownish especially in the lower part, absence of smell, sour taste.

4. Chemical Reactions

   The bright yellow hymenium with SO4H2; the flesh turns to gold yellow with the KOH, to the green-gray with the SO4Fe.

5. Habitat

   It grows in summer and autumn in the latifolious forests especially under the beech; is solitary or gregarious.

6. Spores

   Ellipsoidal, elongated, at times rather compressed, guttulate, not amyloid, 10-12 × 7-8 µm.

7. Spore Print

   White.

8. Basidia

   Clavate, guttulate, tetrasporic, some also bisporic, with up to 10 µm long sterigmata, with joint buckles, 82,5-122,5 × 10-13,75 µm. Monomitic structure of the carpophore.

9. Similar Species

   Clavulinopsis fusiformis has a similar form but is golden yellow and much smaller.

Clavariadelphus pistillaris Taxonomy and Etymology

First described in 1753 scientifically by Carl Linnaeus, who gave it the binomial name Clavaria pistillaris - a name subsequently sanctioned by Elias Magnus Fries - the Giant Club was transferred to the genus Clavariadelphus in 1933 by Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk (1908 - 1972).

Synonyms of Clavariadelphus pistillaris include Clavaria pistillaris L., and Clavaria herculeana Lightf.

The generic name comes from the Latin clavaria meaning shaped like a club and the Greek adel'phos meaning brother [which in turn derives from a- (prefix meaning, in this case, addition or commonality) plus delphos meaning womb - because siblings come (mostly...) from the same womb]. The implication is that fungi of this genus are closely related, like brothers, to those of the genus Clavaria, since they are similar in shape.

The specific epithet pistillaris is much more straightforward and refers to a pistil or pestle, the club-shape implement used with a mortar (a stone cup) for grinding herbs, etc.

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Francisco J. Díez Martín (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic)

Photo 2 - Author: amadej trnkoczy (amadej) (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 3 - Author: Tatiana (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)

Photo 4 - Author: Holger Krisp (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

Photo 5 - Author: Holger Krisp (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)