#gomphaceae

A coral fungus (Ramaria sp.) in Hertfordshire, England

Ramaria araiospora

Turbinellus floccosus, the Wooly Chanterelle, family Gomphaceae, growing among Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir leaf litter on a shaded western slope.

Final two images are 40 image focus stacks

These ones were sprouting all over the place up at Dwellingup - nice to see, since I haven’t seen a coral fungus since I left Sydney.

A species from the Gomphaceae family, widespread in Australia, but many of the species in the genus are difficult to tell apart. Some species in the genus are mycorrhizal, and some grow on on buried timber, and it’s possible that some species do both. 

Edibility of the coral fungi is debatable - most references in English say they’re bitter, and inedible, which is odd since in most other parts of the world they’re enthuiastically collected for food. That may be because of the number of lookalike species, or because the English are notoriously fungiphobic. In the case of this species, it’s been reported as edible, but is suspiciously similar to Ramaria flavo-brunnescens, that grows exclusively under Eucalyptus in Brazil and other places in South America, and has been responsible for some horrifying cattle deaths over there.