Clavulina rugosa - Wrinkled Club

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Cantharellales

This small club fungus is often solitary or in small groups beside woodland footpaths. The club is flattened in cross section and has very few irregularly-shaped branches. The branch tips are blunt rather than having pointed tips as other white clubs, such as Clavaria fragilis (White Spindles) do.

When seen on amisty autumn day in dark woodland, these strange little fungi often have classic 'ghostly forms' that might just send a fertile imagination racing.

Identification guide

Description	Because the stem and the fertile upper section of the fruitbody are the same colour - white or cream or occasionally light grey - there is no clear delineation between stem and fruitbody. Some examples of this fungus branch but rarely spread out significantly, and many do not branch at all. The blunt tips, which have wrinkled and uneven surfaces surfaces, are laterally compressed but not forked.
Size	The fruiting body is usually 5 to 12cm tall.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	Singly or in small groups on the ground beneath deciduous and coniferous trees; very often beside footpaths.
Season	August to December.
Occurrence	Fairly common.
Similar species	Clavulina cinerea is a grey, branching fungus that does not have the characteristic surface wrinkles of Clavulina rugosa.