Truncated Club or Club Coral
A distinctive cone-shaped basidiomycete fungus in the Gomphaceae family that is found in conifer forests. It reaches 15cm tall by 8cm broad at the apex, though is usually a bit smaller. Newly emergent fruit bodies have a golf-tee shape. The fungus has pinkish brown sides that may be smooth or wrinkled or grooved, with the color shading to orangish yellow at the flattened apex. It fruits in duff below conifers, and is always a treat to find since it is a choice edible with a sweet flavor. Per David Arora it can be sauteed and served as a dessert, but it can also be dried, powdered and used to impart a sweet flavor to various breads or other dishes. It might somewhat resemble a chanterelle, but is lacking in the characteristic cross-veins of chanterelles. It resembles also Clavariadelphus pistillaris, but that species has a rounded apex.