English: Upright coral; Strict-branch coral; Coral fungus.
German: Steife Koralle.
Synonym: Clavaria stricta; Clavaria syringarum; Merisma strictum; Clavaria pruinella; Clavariella stricta; Corallium stricta; Lachnocladium odoratum.
Region: cosmopolitan.
Habitat: on dead wood, stumps, trunks, branches of both deciduous and coniferous trees.
Use: inedible; edible but unpalatable.
MycologyEcology: mycorrhizal.
Type: 10 cm tall; made of multiple slender, compact, and vertical parallel branches; unpleasant odor and bitter taste; light yellow brown to paler toward extremities, tips are light yellow tan to vinaceous-brown; light reddish brown when handled, bruised easily; texture leathery when fresh, brittle when dry; fruit body appears bushy; odor is of anise; taste bitter; fruit bodies can form in log lines on wood underground; lignicolous; late summer.
Cap: not distinct.
Stipe: bare; single or branched up to 8 times, all upright, nearly parallel, ending in 4 to 5 thorn like tips.
Mycelium: white; rhizomorphs radiating from the base.
Hymenium: smooth; attachment is irregular or not applicable.
Spore print: dark yellow.
Spores: roughly elliptical; dotted with low cyanophilous warts; ± 8 by 5 μm.; basidia have basal clamps are mostly four-spored; sometimes have cyanophilous granular contents.