A harmless fungus

Q

Will this fungus cause the trees around it to die off?

Mrs M Booth, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs

AThankfully, the ramaria fungus, which is probably ochre yellow or flesh-coloured Ramaria stricta, won’t harm the trees. Indeed, it is residing in a few inches of decomposing leaf litter and seldom deeply penetrates the soil.

Commonly called coral fungus because it resembles this marine invertebrate, it favours debris in broadleaved woods, occasionally colonising rotting conifer stumps.

Coral fungus won’t hurt trees or shrubs