Common Ramaria (Ramaria eumorpha)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Phallomycetidae (Veselkovye)
- Order: Gomphales
- Family: Gomphaceae (Gomfovy)
- Genus: Ramaria (Ramaria)
- Species: Ramaria eumorpha (Common Ramaria)
Synonyms :
Inval's Horned
- Spruce horn
- Ramaria Invalii
- Clavaria invalii
- Clavariella eumorpha
Ramaria vulgaris is one of the most common species of horned mushrooms in the forest. Strongly branched, yellow-ocher-colored fruit bodies grow in small groups in shady places on a dead cover under a pine or spruce, sometimes they form curved lines or full "witch circles".
Description
The fruit body is from 1.5 to 6-9 cm high and from 1.5 to 6 cm wide. Branched, bushy, with slender, upright-straight branches. The color is uniform, pale ocher or ocher brown.
Flesh : fragile in young specimens, later harsh, rubbery, light.
Smell : not pronounced.
Taste : with a slight bitterness.
Spore powder : ocher
Season and habitat
Summer-autumn, from early July to October. Grows on litter in coniferous forests, abundantly, often, annually.
Edibility
Conditionally edible (in some reference books - edible) mushroom of poor quality, used fresh after boiling. To get rid of the bitterness, some recipes recommend a long, 10-12 hours soaking in cold water, changing the water several times.
Similar species
The mushroom is similar to Ramaria yellow, which has a harder flesh.
Feoklavulina fir (Phaeoclavulina abietina) in its ocher variation can also be very similar to Rogatik Intvala, however, Phaeoclavulina abietina's flesh turns green rapidly when damaged.
Note:
The name "Spruce Horn (Ramaria abietina)" is indicated as a synonym for both Ramaria Invalii and Phaeoclavulina abietina, but it should be understood that in this case these are homonyms, and not the same species.
Photo: Vitaly Gumenyuk