First Monday Mushroom: Violet Coral

The Violet Coral, Clavaria zollingeri, is a clavaroid, or club, fungus that is named because of its vibrant purple hued fruiting bodies.

Violet Coral, Clavaria zollingeri

Being saprobic, the violet coral is generally found near crops of hardwoods or around mosses, where it breaks down organics in the soil. Its distribution is wide, being found from Australia, to North America, to Asia, and rarely even in Europe.

Classification

Kingdom:.......	...Fungi
Division:.......	...Basidiomycota
Class: ......	...Agaricomycetes
Order:.....	....Agaricales
Family:.....	......Clavariaceae
Genus:....	........Clavaria
Species:..	......C. zollingeri

Photo Cred:  By This image was created by user Dan Molter (shroomydan) at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images. You can contact this user here. [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons