What a name! This coral fungus is more commonly called "Coral fungus" and more specifically called "Crown Tipped Coral fungus". Interestingly, there is a big difference between crown tipped corral fungus and non-crowned tipped. While they look extremely similar, one is less safe to eat. We advise against eating wild mushrooms unless you have them identified by an expert. We personally aren't eating crown tipped or non crown tipped coral mushrooms at all because we simply aren't experts.
We found this lovely little specimen in 2 places in the yard. One spot right next to a pine tree which makes sense and they grow on wood. The other spot seemed to be right in the middle of a sandy patch though - no wood in sight. That doesn't mean there isn't some wood below the soil that this lovely is sprouting from. But it does put the identification in some question though. All of the descriptions say this mushroom grows in wood. We found some that seemingly was not. That just goes to show you how tricky it can be to identify mushrooms.
Regardless, this mushroom was one of about 7 different varieties we saw popping up this weekend with the warmer temperatures and plentiful rain we had. The forests are full of beautiful specimens and we're looking forward to identifying many more.
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