How to tell Rosso coral from Pallid coral

It has no cap in the usual sense: instead it forms a bushy, coral-like fruiting body, 10-20 cm tall and 15-30 cm across overall, compact and rounded to cushion-shaped. A thick shared trunk at the bottom splits into numerous branching "fingers" (branchlets) on top. The base is white to cream, and the branchlets are pale cream with characteristic pinkish-red or wine-purple tips, a key identifying feature.

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 "fingers" (there are no gills or pores). The spore print is ochre to yellowish.

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 of the cluster is thick, fleshy and white, 3-8 cm tall and 4-6 cm across. Higher up it divides into numerous branches, then into smaller pink-tipped branchlets. The surface of the base is smooth and white, yellowing with age.

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 and marbled, becoming rather tough and fibrous with age. It doesn't change colour when cut, which is an important identifying feature (toxic ramarias may darken). The smell is pleasant and fruity, sometimes with a hint of radish.

The flesh is white and firm. Field guides describe the taste as mild to bitterish.

Pleasant, fresh, fruity and mushroomy, with a hint of radish in young ones. Not sharp, with no chemical notes.

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.