Clavaria fungus maybe ?

[Naturenutz]

Found these today while out in a nearby field. These are new to me but after a little search on the net and my little book i have come up with Clavaria Amoena.
Can anyone confirm or otherwise please .

[Chris Yeates]

hi

this is one of the dangers of searching on the internet:

Clavulinopsis amoena - as Clavaria amoena has been called for the last 60 years is a tropical species, found in Sri Lanka, Malaysia etc.

without checking the spores you can't say for certain, but the odds are that this is Clavulinopsis helvola

cheers

Chris

[Naturenutz]

Thanks chris,how do you test for spores on these may i ask,are the spores produced from along the length of the main body?.I have a microscope that may be suitable.It was bought and used for identifying parasites on fish (koi) and was quite expensive...

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Naturenutz

Thanks chris,how do you test for spores on these may i ask,are the spores produced from along the length of the main body?.I have a microscope that may be suitable.It was bought and used for identifying parasites on fish (koi) and was quite expensive...

yes, given the fantastic forms of fruitbody that toadstools, brackets etc have come up with to produce their spores, these are remarkably simple (though Clavulinopsis is technically in the Agaricales)

just lay one on a slide overnight, or for a day, cover it so it doesn't dry out too quickly, and if it's in good condition you should see a whitish spore deposit; drop of water, cover slip, and if it has spiny spores (and I suspect it will have) it's C. helvola

Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Naturenutz

Thanks chris,how do you test for spores on these may I ask. . . .?

at the weekend, in a donkey field at Scarborough I found some Clavulinopsis fruitbodies which were the spit of yours - including one flattened one, like the one in your right-hand image

here are the spores:



distinctly irregular/spiny and therefore this is Clavulinopsis helvola

cheers

Chris

[Naturenutz]

Thanks Chris,i did not get a chance to use my scope,when i went back to get a sample they had vanished and despite much searching i could not find any others. That photo has got me itching to use my scope .