Cordyceps militaris
An insect-parasitic fungus found across the Northern Hemisphere. In late summer and autumn it pushes small, bright orange club-shaped fruiting bodies up from moth pupae buried in soil and moss. Unlike most Cordyceps, it fruits readily on grain, and it is commercially cultivated on rice or silkworm pupae. For cultivators this means a sterile jar culture: dark colonisation, then light, cool-mild temperatures and high humidity to fruit.
Where it grows wild
It parasitises moth pupae (rarely larvae) in the soil and moss of grassland and woodland edges. The orange clubs, 1–8 cm tall, appear above the moss while the host stays buried. It is easily overlooked, so it is probably more widespread than records suggest.
It is recorded from near sea level to about 1700 m. The few records with elevations have a median of about 990 m, but most records come from lowland north-western Europe.
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