Clavulinopsis corniculata

What You Should Know

Clavulinopsis corniculata is a genus of mushrooms in the Basidiomycota group. This yellow-bright coral fungus has smooth branches which are rounded at the tops. Branching stems arising from a common thickened base; stems usually branch dichotomously, each branch eventually terminating in two (very occasionally three or more) blunt tips; yellow, maturing ochre or tan-brown; base paler and downy.

It grows not very rarely on the ground in sparser forests and outside the forest, along roads, on borders, in fallen leaves, grass, and moss from July to November.

This mushroom has zero culinary value and is classified as an inedible species.

Other names: Meadow Coral, Sikkelkoraalzwam (Netherlands), Geweihförmige Wiesenkeule (German), Kyjovečka svazčitá (Czech Republic).

Clavulinopsis corniculata Mushroom Identification

1. Fruiting Body

   2-9 cm high; sparingly to moderately branched; delicate.

2. Branches

   Smooth; yellow; tips colored like the sides.

3. Base

   1-4 cm long; 1-5 mm thick; often tapering to base; yellow above, covered with white mycelium below; sometimes absent or rudimentary.

4. Flesh

   Pale yellow.

5. Odor and Taste

   Odor mealy; taste mealy or bitter.

6. Chemical Reactions

   Iron salts olive on branches. KOH orange on branches.

7. Spore Print

   White.

8. Habitat

   Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously under hardwoods or conifers in woods, or grassy areas; often in the disturbed ground; summer and fall, or overwinter in warmer climates; widely distributed in North America.

9. Microscopic Features

   Spores 4.5-7 µ; globose or subglobose; smooth; with a prominent apiculus 1-1.5 µ long. Basidia 4-spored; up to 80 µ long. Clamp connections are present, but often not particularly conspicuous.

Clavulinopsis corniculata Look-Alikes

1. Clavulinopsis fusiformis

   Can be very similar at first look and differs in golden color and sharper branches.

2. Calocera viscosa

   Similar in habit and color, but does not separate on branches.

Clavulinopsis corniculata Taxonomy and Etymology

In 1821 Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described this coral mushroom in his Systema Mycologicum.

In 1955 British mycologist Edred John Henry Corner (1906 - 1996) transferred this species to the genus Clavulinopsis and named it Clavulinopsis corniculata.

The origin of the generic name is the Latin noun clava meaning a club, with the suffix implying that it looks quite similar to species in the genus Clavulina.

The specific epithet corniculata in Latin is a reference to the word "horns", which resemble the shape of a mushroom.

Clavulinopsis corniculata Synonyms

• Clavaria muscoides L., 1753 (basionym)

• Clavulinopsis corniculata simplex (Donk) R. H. Petersen, 1980

• Clavaria caloceriformis Oudemans (1902), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, 11(8), p. 525 (Basionyme)

• Clavaria coralloides var. 2 luteaBulliard (1791), Histoire des champignons de la France, 1, p. 201, tab. 222, tab. 496, fig. O,Q

• Clavaria corniculata Schaeff. (1774) var. corniculata

• Clavaria corniculata Schaeff., Fung. bavar. palat. nasc. (Ratisbonae) 4: 117 (1774)

• Clavaria corniculata var. flaccida Krombh. (1841)

• Clavaria corniculata var. pratensis (Persoon) Cotton & Wakefield (1919) [1918], Transactions of the British mycological Society, 6(2), p. 182

• Clavaria corniculata var. simplex Donk (1933)

• Clavaria fastigiata Bulliard (1787), Herbier de la France, 8, tab. 358, fig. D-E (nom. illegit.)

• Clavaria fastigiata L., Sp. pl. 2: 1183 (1753)

• Clavaria fellea Peck (1898), Annual report of the New York state Museum of natural history, 51, p. 292

• Clavaria fruticulosa Batsch, 1783

• Clavaria furcata var. ß lunulataPersoon (1797), Commentatio de fungis clavaeformibus, p. 52

• Clavaria furcata Persoon (1797), Commentatio de fungis clavaeformibus, p. 52 (nom. illegit.)

• Clavaria helvola var. ß dispar Persoon (1822), Mycologia europaea, seu complet omnium fungorum in variis europaeae regionibus detectorum enumeratio, 1, p. 181

• Clavaria muscoides Sowerby, Col. fig. Engl. Fung. Mushr. (London) 2: tab. 1183 (1798)

• Clavaria muscoides Willd., Fl. berol. prodr. : 407 (1787)

• Clavaria peckii Saccardo (1891), Sylloge fungorum omnium hucusque cognitorum, 9, p. 249

• Clavaria pratensis Persoon (1797), Commentatio de fungis clavaeformibus, p. 51, tab. 4, fig. 5

• Clavaria similes Peck (1890) [1889], Annual report of the New York state Museum of natural history, 43, p. 24 (nom. illegit.)

• Clavaria vitellina Persoon (1822), Mycologia europaea, seu complet omnium fungorum in variis europaeae regionibus detectorum enumeratio, 1, p. 170

• Clavulinopsis corniculata (Schaeff.) 1950

• Clavulinopsis corniculata alba Gray, 1821

• Clavulinopsis corniculata bispora Corner ex Pilát, 1955

• Clavulinopsis corniculata brunneipes Schild, 1971

• Clavulinopsis corniculata compacta M. P. Christ., 1968

• Clavulinopsis corniculata f. bispora Corner (1955), in Pilát, Sborník Národního muzea v Praze, rada B, Prírodní vedy, 11(2), p. 25

• Clavulinopsis corniculata f. bispora Corner ex Pilát, Sb. nár. Mus. Praze 25: fig. 18 (1955)

• Clavulinopsis corniculata f. compacta M.P. Christ., Friesia 8(2): 141 (1968) [1967]

• Clavulinopsis corniculata flaccida Krombh., 1841

• Clavulinopsis corniculata forma bispora Corner ex Pilát 1955

• Clavulinopsis corniculata grandis S. S. Rattan & Khurana, 1978

• Clavulinopsis corniculata simplex Donk, 1933

• Clavulinopsis corniculata var. brunneipes Schild, Fungorum Rariorum Icones Coloratae 5: 31 (1971)

• Clavulinopsis corniculata var. grandis S. S. Rattan & Khurana, Biblthca Mycol. 66: 43 (1978)

• Clavulinopsis corniculatum (Schaeff.) Spreng., 1827

• Clavulinopsis fastigiata (L.) Holmsk., 1790

• Clavulinopsis muscoides Sowerby, 1798

• Clavulinopsis pratense (Pers.) Spreng., 1827

• Corallium pratense (Persoon) G. Hahn (1883), Der pilzsammler; oder, Anleitung zur kenntniss der wichtigsten pilze Deutschlands und der angrenzenden länder, Edn 1, p. 73

• Donkella corniculata (Schaeff. ) Doty, Lloydia 13: 14 (1950)

• Merisma corniculatum (Schaeffer) Sprengel (1827), Systema vegetabilium, Edn 16, 4(1), p. 495

• Merisma pratense (Persoon) Sprengel (1827), Systema vegetabilium, Edn 16, 4(1), p. 497

• Ramaria concreta Velenovský (1939), Novitates mycologicae, p. 161

• Ramaria corniculata (Schaeffer) Gray (1821), A natural arrangement of British plants, 1, p. 655

• Ramaria corniculata var. alba Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. (London) 1: 655 (1821)

• Ramaria corniculata var. corniculata (Schaeff.) Gray., 1821

• Ramaria dichotoma Velenovský (1939), Novitates mycologicae, p. 161

• Ramaria echinata Velenovský (1939), Novitates mycologicae, p. 161

• Ramaria fastigiata (Bulliard) Quélet (1888), Flore mycologique de la France et des pays limitrophes, p. 466

• Ramaria fastigiata (L.) Holmsk. , Beata Ruris Otia FUNGIS DANICIS 1: 90, tab. 23 (1790)

• Ramaria muscoides (Linnaeus) Holmskjold (1790), Beata ruris otia fungis danicis, 1, p. 87, tab. 22

• Ramaria pratensis (Persoon) Gray (1821), A natural arrangement of British plants, 1, p. 655

• Ramariopsis corniculata (Schaeff. ) R. H. Petersen, Mycologia 70(3): 668 (1978)

• Ramariopsis corniculata var. simplex (Donk) R. H. Petersen, Sydowia 32(1-6): 217 (1980)

Clavulinopsis corniculata Video

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