CLAVARIA (Ramaria) BOTRYTIS (1)
At first sight this mushroom looks like the head of a ripe cauliflower, 6-16 cm by 8-20 cm, with tips that are very small, short, bifid, rosy or amethystine, confluent in bigger and bigger branches and finally in a single trunk, thick, short, fleshy, rounded at the base, whitish, then ochraceous. Flesh white, firm, brittle. Odor tenuous. Flavor acidulous or bitterish. Spores pale ocher. It grows in autumn, in thin woods, especially of beech trees; seldom in coniferous woods. Edible with caution: in particularly sensitive individuals it produces laxative effects, although not violent ones; moderate use is recommended, and then only the stem, not the branches; it should be boiled for a few minutes in water, then carefully drained and finally cooked properly.

CLAVARIA BOTRYTIS variety PARVULA (2)
Of smaller size than C. Botrytris; tips of the branches pink or purple pink; edible with caution. Clavaria botrytis variety rufescens, edible with caution; it can attain larger sizes than C. Botrytris: branches yellowish, then ochraceous; tips rosy red or amaranth red; acidulous; grows in coniferous and latifoliate woods, on the ground, on which, at first sight, it appears orange on top and white below.