Key to Club, Coral, or Leafy Lettuce-like Fungi

1. Fruit bodies occurring either as 1) complex, lettuce-like masses of flattened and wavy-margined branches
    or 2) complex, coral-like structures of erect worm-like stalks which branch repeatedly

    2. Branches flattened and wavy-margined, forming complex lettuce-like clusters

        3. Fruit body white to pale yellow or pale tan

            4. Deeply rooting dark brown to black stalk present; individual branches darkest at
                tips.........................................................................................................................Sparassis crispa

            4. Rooting stalk absent; individual branches palest at tips..............................................Sparassis spathulata

        3. Fruit body light to dark reddish brown....................................................................Tremella foliacea

    2. Branches not conspicuously flattened, forming complex, highly branched, coral-like clusters

         5. Fruit body with open, candelabra--like structure; branches with crown-like tips ....Clavicorona pyxidata

         5. Fruit body more compact, appearing to be formed of many highly branched, but parallel, upright stalks;
             branches pointed and without crown-like tips..............................................................Ramaria spp.

1. Fruit bodies individually simple in appearance, occurring as single, upright, unbranched or sparingly branched
    or forked structures which may or may not be tightly packed together

    6. Fruit body brown to black, at least in part

        7. Fruit bodies in dense clusters; individual fruit bodies delicate, without internal fleshy tissue, very
            thin (1-1.5 mm wide), up to 2 cm tall, and appearing as a cylindrical head on narrow, short,
            shiny, black stalk ....................................................................................................Stemonitis spp.

        7. Fruit bodies single or clustered; individual fruit bodies greater than 1.5 mm wide, up to 8 cm tall,
            with internal fleshy tissue which may be quite tough or woody

            8. Flesh inside brown to black; fruit body unbranched; upper club- like head elongate or not and
                usually compressed or having a longitudinal furrow, stalk velvety; stalk and head with black
                spines (use hand lens) ........................................................................Trichoglossum hirsutum

            8. Flesh inside white; fruit body branched or not; upper portions not compressed or having a
                longitudinal furrow. External surfaces of the following species may be partly white to buff when
                immature but are mostly black or blackish-brown.

                9. Fruit body thick (1-3 cm wide); appearing as distorted, finger-like clubs ........Xylaria polymorpha

                9. Fruit body thin (0.5-1 cm wide), forked, appearing as antler-like clubs ..........Xylaria hypoxylon

    6. Fruit body various shades of white, yellow, orange or red; in no part black

         10. Fruit bodies without structural strength, collapsing into a slimy material where touched; white
               to pinkish to red

               11. Fruit bodies whitish, appearing as scattered and clustered masses of tiny, translucent "icicles";
                     individual erect fruit bodies 0.5-1 mm wide and 0.1-1 cm high;
                     branched or simple ................................................................................Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa

               11. Fruit bodies pinkish to reddish, appearing as densely crowded and compressed masses
                     with the appearance of raspberries; individual erect fruit bodies less than 0.5 mm wide and
                     3-5 mm high .........................................................................................Tubifera ferruginosa

         10. Fruit bodies tougher than described above, maintaining structural integrity when touched; whitish or
               variously colored

               12. Fruit body very tiny (1-1.5 mm wide, 3-10 mm tall), whitish; occurring on algae-covered,
                     debarked logs .....................................................................................Multiclavula mucida

               12. Fruit body not as described above, typically larger, not whitish

                     13. Fruit body consists of a head-like portion borne on a stalk

                           14. Head flattened longitudnally in some manner

                                 15. Head spoon or tongue-shaped, compressed or longitudinally furrowed; stalk
                                       scaly-granular; head and stalk orange to yellow.......................Microglossum rufum

                                 15. Head fan to spoon-shaped with wavy margins, cream colored to yellowish to
                                       brownish yellow; stalk darker in color (ochre to reddish-brown), minutely downy,
                                       attached to substrate by orange hairs.................................Spathulariopsis velutipes

                           14. Head cap-like, irregularly lobed and convoluted, margins strongly inrolled; not longitudnally
                                 compressed

                                 16. Head dark greenish, stalk yellow to orange yellow ..........................Leotia viscosa

                                 16. Head and stalk more or less the same color

                                       17. Fruit body dull yellow to orange-yellow........................................Leotia lubrica

                                       17. Fruit body pea green to bluish green ..........................................Leotia atrovirens

                    13. Fruit body lacking a stalked head-like portion, occurring as upright cylindrical stalks with
                          pointed tips, branched or not; yellow to yellow-orange; flesh tough and gelatinous

                          18. Fruit body 1-2.5 cm wide, 2.5-10 cm tall; branching from base with upper branches
                                usually forked.......................................................................................Calocera viscosa

                          18. Fruit body up to 3 mm wide and up to 1.5 cm tall; unbranched or sometimes forked
                                at apex ...................................................................................................Calocera cornea

'