Never eat a wild mushroom identified only from a website, a book or an app. Have every find checked in person by an expert, such as a mycological society.
Identification
Ramaria formosa forms a bushy, coral-like fruit body up to about 20 cm tall and wide. A thick, whitish base divides repeatedly into upright branches that are salmon-pink to orange-pink, ending in small, lemon-yellow tips. With age the colours fade towards ochre. The flesh is whitish, sometimes slightly marbled, and bruises wine-brown where handled or cut. The taste is usually bitter. The spore print is ochre-yellow.
Coral fungi of the genus Ramaria are notoriously difficult. Several dozen yellow, orange and pink species occur in Europe alone, and reliable identification often depends on microscopic features such as spore size and ornamentation and the presence of clamp connections, plus chemical tests. Colour alone is not sufficient, and photographs are rarely enough to name a Ramaria to species.
Habitat and ecology
The salmon coral is usually regarded as an ectomycorrhizal species of broadleaf woodland, especially with beech and oak, and is frequently found on calcareous soils. It fruits in late summer and autumn, singly or in groups, on the forest floor among leaf litter.
It is distributed across Europe, and similar pink-and-yellow corals reported from North America and Asia may represent other species. Many Ramaria species are sensitive to habitat change and nitrogen deposition and have declined in parts of Central Europe, making careful recording more useful than collecting.
Uses and importance
Ramaria formosa has no culinary use. In some regions, coral fungi as a group are collected and eaten, and this species is a frequent cause of poisoning when it is mixed up with edible corals. That makes it important in foraging safety and identification training.
The toxins have not been identified. Poisoning produces a gastrointestinal syndrome with a characteristically strong laxative effect, together with nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Coral fungi are also of interest in fungal systematics: molecular work has shown that coral shape evolved several times, and Ramaria is closely related to the pig's ear (Gomphus clavatus) and, more distantly, to the stinkhorns rather than to other coral-shaped fungi.
Safety and edibility
Do not eat the salmon coral or any coral fungus that has not been identified to species in person by an expert. Symptoms, typically beginning within a few hours, include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and severe diarrhoea. Most cases resolve, but fluid loss can be dangerous, especially in children, older people and people with other illnesses.
Anyone who has eaten this mushroom or an unidentified coral fungus should seek emergency medical help immediately, even before symptoms appear, and keep the remains for identification.
Because many coral fungi look alike and microscopy is often required, a website, app or photo can never confirm that a coral fungus is edible. Have every find checked in person by an expert such as a mycological society or a trained mushroom adviser.
If you suspect mushroom poisoning, call your local emergency number or poison centre straight away, even before any symptoms appear, and keep the remains of the mushrooms.
Look-alikes
The cauliflower coral (Ramaria botrytis) has a massive white base and pinkish to wine-red tips, and its spores are striate under the microscope. Golden and yellow corals such as Ramaria aurea, Ramaria flava and Ramaria flavescens are yellow throughout or have different spore features. The stinking coral (Ramaria pallida) is pale and also causes gastrointestinal poisoning. Only microscopy, together with careful notes on colours, bruising and habitat, allows reliable separation.
Around the world
The salmon coral is a European species, found mainly in beech and oak woods from the British Isles and Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. Coral fungi are traditionally collected in parts of Central and Southern Europe, where poisonings with this and other bitter corals are regularly reported.