Names, authorship and dates from Index Fungorum.

• AscomycotaPhylum
• └─ SordariomycetesClass
• └─ CordycipitaceaeFamily
• └─ CordycepsGenus

Higher ranks from Catalogue of Life (COL26.9 XR).

not recorded

Mossy forest floor, growing on buried insect pupae

⚠ Before you pickWild fungi may be taken in small quantities for your own use (§39(3) BNatSchG) — but not in nature reserves or national parks, on closed land or on farmland in use, and never for sale (§39(4)). In Bavaria this right is anchored in Art. 141(3) of the state constitution and is limited to locally customary amounts; the competent authority is the district nature-conservation authority (untere Naturschutzbehörde). Local signs and ordinances come first.

Species protection from BArtSchV Annex 1 and §2(1), retrieved 2026-10-15; Red List from Dämmrich et al. (2016) (BfN / Rote-Liste-Zentrum). Not legal advice — local rules and signage may be stricter. BArtSchV Annex 1 · Red List data

• medicinal mushrooms
• edible mushroom

Not edible

• ▸ Bright orange, club-shaped fruiting bodies (stromata) rising from the ground, often in clusters
• ▸ The smooth, slightly swollen head is covered with tiny, embedded flask-shaped perithecia
• ▸ Grows from the buried pupae of moths and butterflies, which the fungus has infected and killed
• ▸ Emerges from mossy soil and forest litter during the humid autumn months

Rich in cordycepin; widely cultivated as a medicinal supplement. Lifting the moss aside reveals the insect that the mushroom is feeding on.