I just looked up Clavulina pyxidata in Mushrooms Demystified, and see it is reported growing on hardwood logs. I guess I have not seen this species, and stand corrected. I still don’t think that your photo matches the description of C. pyxidata, though. Aurora reports it from the southern Rocky Mountains, so I suppose it could be in Quebec as well. In Mushrooms of Northwest North America by Helene M.E. Schalkwijk-Barendsen, Clavicorona pyxidata is shown as mostly golden brown throughout the specimen, with some black. The tips are finely separated into 4-8 tiny extensions, which I don’t see on your photo. Hericium develops brown at the tips just before totally degrading, and to my eye your specimen is quite old. I still believe that Hericium is a better match for this photo, even though I have no species that fits the photo.

Growing from well-rotted wood and saprophytic are two different things. Many Hydnotrya, for example, are found in well-rotting logs or stumps. But they are, in fact, mycorrhizal.

Daniel B. Wheeler

Most corals grow on the ground and may be mycorrhizal, but my field guide lists:

Clavicorona pyxidata and other Clavicorona species — on wood.

Clavariadelphus ligula — on conifer needles and saprobic on soil contents

Lentaria yssiseda — on twigs, leaves, cones, and other duff, and on wood

Multiclavula mucida — on wood

Ramaria stricta — on wood

Physalacria inflata — on wood and leaves

All of these it places in Clavariaceae. I suppose other authors may differ. Mushroom taxonomy seems to be in a state of flux these days.

Of the above that grow on wood, Clavicorona pyxidata is the closest match. Ramaria stricta has long parallel vertical branches and Lentaria branches out more radially from the point of attachment.

I don’t know of any Clavariaceae that are saprophytic. Most are symbiotic with trees, and therefore on ground, not on wood.

Not upside-down. Definitely a coral. If the specimen had been fresh it might have been identifiable. Clavicorona pyxidata comes to mind, but I’d have had to examine the branch tips of a fresh specimen to confirm or rule out that identification.

If photo were upside-down, could be very old specimen of Hericium.