Day 48: Per "Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest" by Steve Trudell and Joe Ammirati, the growth of Calocera cornea "in large troops on rotting logs and small size set it apart from the other club-fungi." Just how small? Well, I didn't have a penny, so used a dime instead to show that the tallest of these might have reached a towering 4 mm. I discovered it along the Hugo Peak Trail in Pack Forest, first time I have observed it there. The species is not uncommon and occurs around the globe, fruiting in late summer and autumn. A member of the order Dacrymycetales, it is characterized by the Y-shape of its basidia (spore-producing bodies). Despite the similarity in appearance to the coral fungi, DNA analysis has shown that the clubs form a second, unrelated evolutionary group. It's a private club, no corals allowed.
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