How to tell Ramaria aurea from Salmon coral

A bushy fruiting body with no distinct cap or stem, 8-15 cm tall and 10-20 cm across overall. It has a slender lower trunk and numerous parallel, straight "fingers" pointing upward. The colour is rich golden yellow, bright lemon when young, turning ochre with age. The branch tips are blunt and the same colour as the branches (unlike R. botrytis).

There is no cap as such. The fruit body is bushy, 7 to 20 cm tall, occasionally up to 30 cm, and up to 15 cm across. Branches rise densely from a thick base and fork several times. The branch tips are slender, less than half a centimetre wide.

Young branches are salmon pink, orange-pink or pinkish ochre with yellow tips. The colour is very variable and fades quickly: old specimens turn ochre, and then colour no longer separates them from other corals.

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

There are no gills or pores. The smooth spore-bearing surface covers the branches on all sides.

The spore print is ochre yellow. The spores are elongated, 8–15 × 4–6 µm, with small warts that run together in lines. Spores and other microscopic features are what reliably separate the salmon coral from its lookalikes.

The shared base is short, 2-4 cm tall and 1-2 cm thick, whitish yellow, and splits into numerous branches. Its surface is smooth and white-yellow.

There is no separate stem. The branches grow from a thick, fleshy base that is whitish or paler than the branches. There is no ring and no volva.

The flesh is firm, white or pale yellow, toughening with age. It may turn slightly brown when pressed, though the reaction is weak. The taste is mild at first, then slightly bitter, especially in older fruiting bodies.

The flesh is white, pinkish or pale orange in the middle, and tough and rubbery in the branches. It can turn wine red or blackish where broken or pressed. Field guides describe the taste as bitter.

Faintly mushroomy and nothing distinctive, without the fruity notes typical of R. botrytis.

The British guide First Nature describes the smell as not distinctive, while English Wikipedia calls it unpleasant. Smell is no help in identifying it.