The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Ramaria'' comprises approximately 200

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

coral fungi The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the '' Basidiomycota'' typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are formed on the ground, on decaying vegetation, or on dead wood. They are colloquially called club fu ...

. Several, such as '' Ramaria flava'', are edible and picked in Europe, though they are easily confused with several mildly poisonous species capable of causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea; these include '' R. formosa'' and '' R. pallida''. Three ''Ramaria'' species have been demonstrated to contain a very unusual organoarsenic compound homoarsenocholine.

Etymology

The genus name is derived from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''rāmus'' meaning ''branch''.

Description

Basidiocarp In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do not ...

s may range in color from bright yellow, red, or orange, to purple, white, and shades of tan. Color changes after bruising occur in some species. The

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s of ''Ramaria'' species are yellow-brown to rusty-brown in mass deposit and range from smooth to warted to

echinulate The following is a glossary of scientific terminology, terms used in the description of lichens, composite organisms that arise from algae or cyanobacteria living among Hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species in a Mutualism (biology), mutuali ...

striate In geology, a striation is a groove, created by a geological process, on the surface of a rock or a mineral. In structural geology, striations are linear furrows, or linear marks, generated from fault movement. The striation's direction revea ...

; spore size may range considerably, and ornamentation, when present, is cyanophilous.

Classification

Hjomsköld was the first to introduce the name ''Ramaria'' in 1790.

Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1 February 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a German mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, the third child of an immig ...

later described '' R. botrytis'', and placed it in the genus ''Clavaria''.

Fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. The ...

sanctioned the name ''Clavaria'' in 1821, and treated ''Ramaria'' as a section of ''Clavaria''. In 1933, Donk elevated the name ''Ramaria'' to its current generic status by recognizing Bonorden's use of the name ''Ramaria''. Currently, ''Ramaria'' is placed in the Gomphaceae, although some older sources still classify it in the

Ramariaceae The Gomphaceae are a diverse family of fungi belonging in what is classically known as the Phallales The Phallales are an order of fungi in the subclass Phallomycetidae. The order contains two families: the Claustulaceae, and the Phallaceae ...

. Ramaria has been further subdivided into four subgenera based on differences in spore ornamentation, substrate habitat, clamps, and basidiocarp appearance.

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses has shown that ''Ramaria'' is not

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

, and that the characteristic coralloid shape has likely evolved several times from different ancestors. Phaeoclavulina myceliosa AR

Species

*'' R. abietina'' *'' R. acrisiccescens'' *'' R. acutissima'' *'' R. aenea'' *'' R. africana'' *'' R. albidoflava'' *'' R. albocinerea'' *'' R. alborosea'' *'' R. altaica'' *'' R. ambigua'' *'' R. americana'' *'' R. amyloidea'' *'' R. anisata'' *'' R. anziana'' *'' R. apiahyna'' *'' R. apiculata'' *'' R. araiospora'' *'' R. arcosuensis'' *'' R. argentea'' *'' R. armeniaca'' *'' R. articulotela'' *'' R. asiatica'' *'' R. atkinsonii'' *'' R. aurantiisiccescens'' *'' R. aurea'' *'' R. aureofulva'' *'' R. aureorhiza'' *'' R. australiana'' *'' R. avellaneovertex'' *'' R. basirobusta'' *'' R. bonii'' *'' R. botrytis'' *'' R. botrytoides'' *'' R. bourdotiana'' *'' R. brevispora'' *'' R. brienzensis'' *'' R. broomei'' *'' R. brunneicontusa'' *'' R. brunneipes'' *'' R. brunneomaculata'' *'' R. bulbobasidiata'' *'' R. cacao'' *'' R. camelicolor'' *'' R. camellia'' *'' R. campestris'' *'' R. campoi'' *'' R. candida'' *'' R. canescens'' *'' R. capitata'' *'' R. capucina'' *'' R. celerivirescens'' *'' R. cettoi'' *'' R. cinereocarnea'' *'' R. cladoniae'' *'' R. clarobrunnea'' *'' R. claviramulata'' *'' R. cokeri'' *'' R. conjuncta'' *'' R. conjunctipes'' *'' R. coulterae'' *'' R. curta'' *'' R. cyaneigranosa'' *'' R. cyanocephala'' *'' R. cystidiophora'' *'' R. daucipes'' *'' R. decurrens'' *'' R. distinctissima'' *'' R. divaricata'' *'' R. dolomitica'' *'' R. echinovirens'' *'' R. eosanguinea'' *'' R. ephemeroderma'' *'' R. eryuanensis'' *'' R. eumorpha'' *'' R. fagetorum'' *'' R. fagicola'' *'' R. fennica'' *'' R. filicicola'' *'' R. filicina'' *'' R. fistulosa'' *'' R. flaccida'' *'' R. flava'' *'' R. flavescens'' *'' R. flaviceps'' *'' R. flavicolor'' *'' R. flavigelatinosa'' *'' R. flavoalba'' *'' R. flavobrunnescens'' *'' R. flavoides'' *'' R. flavomicrospora'' *'' R. flavosalmonicolor'' *'' R. flavosaponaria'' *'' R. flavoviridis'' *'' R. flavula'' *'' R. foetida'' *'' R. formosa'' *'' R. fragillima'' *'' R. fumosiavellanea'' *'' R. fuscobrunnea'' *'' R. gelatiniaurantia'' *'' R. gelatinosa'' *'' R. gigantea'' *'' R. glaucoaromatica'' *'' R. gracilis'' *'' R. grandipes'' *'' R. grandis'' *'' R. griseobrunnea'' *'' R. grundii'' *'' R. guyanensis'' *'' R. gypsea'' *'' R. harrisonii'' *'' R. hemirubella'' *'' R. henriquesii'' *'' R. highlandensis'' *'' R. hilaris'' *'' R. himalayensis'' *'' R. holorubella'' *'' R. ignicolor'' *'' R. incognita'' *'' R. incongrua'' *'' R. indoyunnaniana'' *'' R. inedulis'' *'' R. inquinata'' *'' R. insignis'' *'' R. intimorosea'' *'' R. junquilleavertex'' *'' R. kisantuensis'' *'' R. lacteobrunnescens'' *'' R. laeviformosoides'' *'' R. laevispora'' *'' R. largentii'' *'' R. leptoformosa'' *'' R. linearioides'' *'' R. longicaulis'' *'' R. longispora'' *'' R. longissimispora'' *'' R. lorithamnus'' *'' R. luteoflaccida'' *'' R. maculatipes'' *'' R. maculospora'' *'' R. madagascariensis'' *'' R. magnifica'' *'' R. magnipes'' *'' R. marrii'' *'' R. mediterranea'' *'' R. moelleriana'' *'' R. murrillii'' *'' R. mutabilis'' *'' R. myceliosa'' *'' R. nanispora'' *'' R. neoformosa'' *'' R. obtusissima'' *'' R. ochracea'' *'' R. ochrochlora'' *'' R. pallida'' *'' R. pallidissima'' *'' R. pallidosaponaria'' *'' R. palmata'' *'' R. pancaribbea'' *'' R. patagonica'' *'' R. perbrunnea'' *'' R. perfluopunicea'' *'' R. petersenii'' *'' R. piedmontiana'' *'' R. polonica'' *'' R. polypus'' *'' R. primulina'' *'' R. prostrata'' *'' R. pseudobotrytis'' *'' R. pseudogracilis'' *'' R. pumila'' *'' R. pupulispora'' *'' R. pura'' *'' R. purpureopallida'' *'' R. purpurissima'' *'' R. pusilla'' *'' R. pyrispora'' *'' R. rainierensis'' *'' R. rasilispora'' *'' R. raveneliana'' *'' R. reticulata'' *'' R. roellinii'' *'' R. rosella'' *'' R. rotundispora'' *'' R. rubella'' *'' R. rubiginosa'' *'' R. rubriattenuipes'' *'' R. rubribrunnescens'' *'' R. rubricarnata'' *'' R. rubrievanescens'' *'' R. rubripermanens'' *'' R. rubrogelatinosa'' *'' R. samuelsii'' *'' R. sandaracina'' *'' R. sanguinea'' *'' R. sanguinipes'' *'' R. sardiniensis'' *'' R. schildii'' *'' R. sclerocarnosa'' *'' R. secunda'' *'' R. sesiana'' *'' R. sinoconjunctipes'' *'' R. solomonensis'' *'' R. somniculosa'' *'' R. spinulosa'' *'' R. strasseri'' *'' R. stricta'' *'' R. stuntzii'' *'' R. subaurantiaca'' *'' R. subbotrytis'' *'' R. subgelatinosa'' *'' R. subtilis'' *'' R. subviolacea'' *'' R. suecica'' *'' R. synaptopoda'' *'' R. terrea'' *'' R. testaceoflava'' *'' R. testaceoviolacea'' *'' R. thalliovirescens'' *'' R. thiersii'' *'' R. toxica'' *'' R. tridentina'' *'' R. tropicalis'' *'' R. tsugina'' *'' R. valdiviana'' *'' R. varians'' *'' R. velocimutans'' *'' R. verlotensis'' *'' R. vinaceipes'' *'' R. vinosimaculans'' *'' R. violaceibrunnea'' *'' R. watlingii'' *'' R. xanthosperma'' *'' R. zeppelinospora'' *'' R. zippelii''

References

External links

* * *
MushroomExpert.Com
"Clubs and Corals" by Michael Kuo {{Authority control Gomphaceae Agaricomycetes genera