Violet Coral

Violet Coral is one of the most striking small fungi of temperate grassland, producing tufts 2-10 cm tall of translucent amethyst, magenta or purple branches. The colour is uniform and saturated when fresh, fading toward brownish-lilac with age or after frost.

The species belongs to Clavaria in the family Clavariaceae, a group of soft, brittle, mostly unbranched or sparsely branched club fungi with white spore prints. C. zollingeri is unusual within the genus in being repeatedly branched, giving it a genuinely coral-like architecture rather than a simple spindle form.

It is also ecologically significant as a member of the CHEGD grassland fungus assemblage, the group of waxcaps, earthtongues, club and coral fungi, Entoloma species and Dermoloma used to assess the conservation value of old, unfertilised turf. Its presence signals long-undisturbed grassland.

Fruiting body

A tufted, branched cluster 2-10 cm tall and 2-8 cm wide, arising from a common short base. The branching pattern is open and irregular, with several main arms dividing once or twice into blunt, U-shaped forks.

Branches and tips

Branches are cylindrical to slightly flattened, smooth, translucent-fleshed and coloured deep amethyst-violet, magenta or purple throughout. The tips are blunt and typically split into two or three short rounded points, sometimes browning as the cluster ages. Fading specimens turn greyish-lilac to tan, losing the intensity that makes the species so recognisable.

Flesh and spore print

Flesh is coloured like the surface, very brittle and easily broken. There is no colour change on cutting beyond the natural fading of old material. The spore print is white, and spores are broadly elliptical and smooth.

Violet Coral grows among moss and short turf in unimproved, unfertilised grassland including old pastures, churchyards, lawns and dune grassland, and also occurs in mossy woodland and on litter under both broadleaf trees and conifers, particularly in North America.

Fruiting runs from late summer into autumn, often after heavy rain. The species is widely but thinly distributed across Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia, and it is regarded as scarce and declining in much of Europe because the old grasslands it depends on have been fertilised, ploughed or built over.

Clavaria species in old grassland were long assumed to be simple litter saprotrophs, but stable-isotope work has shown that many, including the grassland corals and clubs, are biotrophic and probably associated with the roots of grasses and herbs in a relationship that is still being characterised. What is clear is that they depend on undisturbed, low-nutrient soil.

That dependence makes Violet Coral a strong indicator species for grassland conservation assessment. Nitrogen enrichment, ploughing and heavy fertiliser use eliminate it quickly, and it is slow to recolonise. The mycelium persists in the turf for many years and fruits only when moisture and temperature conditions align in late summer and autumn.

Clavulina amethystina is a paler lilac to greyish-violet branched coral of woodland, with softer colour and the blunt, sometimes crested tips typical of its genus. Alloclavaria purpurea forms dense clusters of unbranched purple-brown spindles rather than a branched tuft. Ramariopsis pulchella is a tiny lilac branched coral only a couple of centimetres tall.

Ramaria fennica is much larger, with violet-grey tones in the lower branches, yellowish upper branches and a pale ochre spore print instead of a white one. Genuinely magenta, richly coloured tufts in short grassland are almost always Clavaria zollingeri.