Artomyces sp. (A coral fungus)

Artomyces is a member of that group of fungi known colloquially as coral fungi (and technically as clavarioid fungi). Many coral fungi show well-developed branching in their fruit bodies. One marked characteristic of Artomyces is pyxidate branching. This means that a stem/branch ends in a disk-like to shallowly cup-like broadening and new branches develop around the rim of that disk/cup. In other genera there is no pyxidate branching, the new branches separating smoothly from an older one, much like the branching in trees. Artomyces fruit bodies grow from dead wood, whereas those of most other coral fungi grow from soil. A study of the genus was published in 2003, by mycologists based at the University of Tennessee and photographs of Artomyces specimens, held by that university's herbarium are included on this page of the MyCoPortal website:  http://mycoportal.org/portal/taxa/index.php?taxon=7714.