Macrotyphula juncea

Sporocarp
Fruiting body a slender, erect, strand, 3-8 cm tall, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, subpliant, stuffed at maturity, straight to curved, the tip obtuse; upper half to two-thirds, fertile, not well differentiated from the sterile base; surface of fertile region more or less glabrous, cream-buff to pale ochraceous-brown, the sterile portion slightly darker, sparsely villose, the base usually swollen and conspicuously pubescent; context thin, colored like the surface; odor and taste mild.

Spores
Spores 6.0-8.0 x 3.5-5.5 µm, broadly ellipsoid in face-view, tear-shaped in side-view, smooth, hilar appendage conspicuous; spore print white.

Habitat
In groups on conifer and hardwood duff, common on fallen branchlets of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), also on leaves of tanbark oak and live oak (Lithocarpus densiflora and Quercus agrifolia); fruiting from late fall to mid-winter.

Edibility
Unknown; totally insignificant.

Comments
Were it not for a gregarious fruiting habit, the pale strands of Macrotyphula juncea would go unnoticed by most mycophiles. This diminutive coral fungus fruits only in dark, moist places, a favorite habitat, duff in the shade of redwood, (Sequoia sempervirens). Typhula species are similar but arise from a grain-like sclerotium. An Ascomycete, Xylaria hypoxylon, bears a resemblance, but grows on decaying wood, not duff, and is colored differently, the base blackish, the slender apex powdery-white from asexual spores.