Candlesnuff fungus or Strict-branch coral

There's no cap. The fruit body, or stroma, is upright, cylindrical or flattened, often twisted, 3 to 5 cm tall, occasionally 8 cm, and 2 to 8 mm thick. It can be a simple spike, but it's usually forked at the top like antlers.

The lower part is black and finely velvety. In autumn the upper part is white or greyish, dusted with asexual spores. As the sexual spores ripen, the whole stroma turns black and tiny bumps with pores appear on the upper part.

A bushy fruiting body with no cap, 5-10 cm tall and 3-7 cm across. The branches are thin, straight and parallel, rising vertically like a little brush or broom. The colour is ochre-yellow, becoming brownish-yellow to brown with age. The branch tips are thin, pointed and the same colour, often darker at the base.

There are no gills or pores. The spores ripen in tiny chambers just below the surface of the upper part of the stroma.

The spore print is black.

The spore-bearing layer covers the surface of the branches. The spore print is ochre.

There's no separate stem: the black, velvety base of the stroma runs into the forked upper part.

The shared base is short and thin, 1-3 cm tall and 0.5-1 cm across, ochre-white with fine felty threads at the bottom (where it attaches to the substrate).

The flesh is thin, tough, springy and whitish. The stroma bends or snaps but is never jelly-like or slimy.

The flesh is thin, limp and yellowish. It quickly turns brown when pressed or cut, a characteristic reaction and an important identification feature. The taste is distinctly bitter and astringent.

The smell isn't distinctive.

Faintly mushroomy with a hint of anise or fresh conifer cones.