Dense clusters of unbranched, dull purple to purplish-brown spindles that grow in moss under spruce and fir. Although it looks like a Clavaria, DNA studies place it in the Hymenochaetales, close to small mushrooms such as Rickenella. Its long cylindrical cystidia are distinctive under the microscope.
In tight clusters on soil, often in moss, under spruce, fir and other conifers, sometimes on sandy soil; summer and fall inland, October to December on the West Coast. Possibly mycorrhizal or moss-associated; ecology unresolved.
Distribution
Widespread in northern, montane and western North America, including forested dunes of the far north California coast. Also recorded in Britain and northern Europe (NBN Atlas lists it for the UK).
Characteristics
Fruiting body: 2.5-10 cm high, 2-6 mm wide, cylindrical to spindle-shaped, unbranched, dry, soft, in tight clusters. Color: dull purple to purplish brown or purplish gray, paler at the base, with a bluntly pointed tip. Flesh: thin, whitish to purplish. Odor and taste: not distinctive. Spore print: white. Microscopic: spores ellipsoid, smooth, 8.5-12 x 4-4.5 µm; cystidia cylindrical, thin-walled, up to 130 x 10 µm; clamp connections absent.
