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White Spindles

Clavaria fragilis 

White Spindles

What to look for?

  • White Spindles have simple, unbranched tapered clubs, often forming a cluster among the grass.
  • They are very brittle and can snap easily.
  • The tips yellow and eventually turn brown with age.
  • They are often somewhat laterally flattened and sometimes with grooves along their length, sometimes straight but more often wavy.
  • The individual stems are typically 2-12cm tall and 4-5mm across.

Other common names include Fairy Fingers and White Worm Coral.

Where to find them?

They can be found in the summer and autumn on roadside verges, in cropped grassland and in churchyards. Favouring unimproved acid or neutral grassland, White Spindles can also appear on lawns only after years of low-nutrient management.

They are the most common of all the fairy clubs and coral fungi.

Don’t mistake it with…

  • Clavulinopsis fusiformis has a similar form but is golden yellow. 

Other Species

Devil’s-bit Scabious
The round pretty blue flowers of Devil's-bit Scabious

Devil’s-bit Scabious

Field Pansy

Field Pansy

Viola arvensis