![Lentaria micheneri](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3QgrlM5XQrdvHdKzvF4nBT0NW1-n1Vt1w33dYvGehflKZsgVU4aOxAPF9TPHArcNb9vOf05PghsG70F6_IPNsjKcRe59Ju6_pK48Bxp78EI_qXt7aeC0isc2JqlECfLKvuKsB1dg4VQI/s320/CoralFungi.jpg)
I thought this fungus would be fairly easy to identify, but not being a true fungophile (or at least not an educated one), I apparently neglected to perform important field tests.
![Lentaria micheneri](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5KcDjfQHZVSSMTOUuVmw3JXmu-yI9MlZts7ZkcdLuYk25y4GuqRcQesE0V9gV9KCyFYssZ3KP4KNjoMhXPAjLXvgkZ26CNf_qXDC2uSNm2RfimMuw7wFSM9XqR4ZUqEBM96Ln_wz0goI/s320/CoralFungi4.jpg)
I didn't touch it, so I'm not sure if it was tough, brittle, or pliable. Was the surface felty, soapy, smooth, or otherwise? I don't have a clue.
![Lentaria micheneri](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Nsf2-wO66ED9vbEJpH7GOs2vUaJx8eAPtpfTP1r4Iee7WrGKJiPkabGF-PmA2PkOfdwXhDZI2sV7dzk-uSiHXAw5068DvbZCdHLpp4PCH5pQyjod7K1ISDjXoBJx1BtCbwmc2H8qJsM/s320/CoralFungi5.jpg)
I didn't sniff it - did it smell typically mushroomy, or more like newly-dug potatoes? Or perhaps like beans? I'm not even sure how "mealy" smells.
![Lentaria micheneri](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKPqpL0UMtGttjw0rlmP8llfx456z-nWEF4eNXnWOY7e-dWHaAhZBjdjvpeIItBlwo4pNxW0ah_5K4XFLh2lbi_-H54g0xd2XuRacU6EQr2KkBAfj07B5WT2IPNrpIgcoPE4VQ4627aQ/s320/CoralFungi3.jpg)
I sure as heck wasn't about to taste it. So it may or may not be bitter. Or peppery.
![Lentaria micheneri](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XpRojNwMMqrob6_nhoEzOgTuyz-1INfHW-RsPUnSusN86VyfkgfWO2v_hPfLUUiJxWKLaZNUQakHbtRxY-Pa6tCSmwDXw-xvMwQqZbk_alPJvRbKv7IXIWtJbyQi3ZizrXlggp2nYW0/s320/CoralFungi2.jpg)
I didn't try to collect spores. I didn't cut a sample to see if it dried a different color.
So all I had to go by were visual clues and a knowledge of the habitat.
I thought it might possibly be Clavicorona pyxidata, but that one grows on rotting logs, and this one didn't appear to... though the log could have been beneath the leaf litter. I should have checked.
Clavaria fumosa was another possibility, but the habitat does not seem to fit. That one grows in open places, and mine was in the woods.
I briefly felt certain that it was Ramaria acrisiccescens, but that one's only in the northwest US.
Then I found Lentaria micheneri. The only description that lists "salmon" as a color possibility. Plus it mentions oak and beech and leaf litter, which was spot-on for the habitat. So that's my best guess.
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So, what's the word meaning "mushroom lover"? I thought fungiphile, but Google kept asking me if I meant fungophile. Online dictionaries don't recognize either, and all my real dictionaries are still packed up in boxes somewhere.
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