Here is a look at a young Ramaria rubripermanens with very bright colored branch tips. This is our Maritime version of the Clustered Coral mushroom and is now one of my favorite mushrooms for eating and is rated as a choice edible for good reason.
Slightly older mushroom with branches extending some and the tips are fading a bit.
Days later the branches can be antler-like and the tips more faded.
Mature Ramaria rubripermanens are much more difficult to identify if there are no young mushrooms also present beside them. One clue that you are gathering R rubripermanens on older faded out mushrooms is the (base) of the mushroom often have some bright red coloring on both young and older mushrooms. We do have a few other Ramaria in the Maritime provinces with some of them having questionable edibility so gather your big coral mushrooms with care.
They can be quite large.
Closer look, some claim only the young mushrooms are good eating, I don’t notice much difference in taste between young and mature R rubripermanens, you do need to make sure the base and branch flesh is solid, white in color and not watery or mushy.
These mushrooms can be rare in many areas in the world so if you have some around you can count yourself fortunate. This mushroom is being studied these days for it’s antimicrobial properties and may become more known as an important medicinal mushroom to go along with being also a choice wild edible mushroom, kind of a nice combo:)
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