How to tell Ramaria aurea from Pallid 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. The fruit body is bushy, 5 to 15 cm tall and wide, occasionally up to 20 cm, with dense, repeatedly forking branches.

The colour is pale: cream branches like milky coffee and a whitish base. Young branch tips are blunt, finely toothed and faintly lilac-pink. The whole fruit body fades further with age.

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 pale yellow. The spores are elliptical, 9–12 × 4.5–6.5 µm and finely warty. Only a microscope reliably separates it from similar corals.

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 rise from a thick whitish base. 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 and firm. Field guides describe the taste as mild to bitterish.

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

The smell is faint: German guides compare it to soapy water or call it slightly sour, and a Swedish guide calls it spicy. It's of little help in identification.