Fruit bodies up to 6 x 6 cm, obpyramidal to subglobose in profile, branched. Stipe small, up to 1 x 1 cm, very minutely pruinose or hoary below, the pruina white, tapering downward or rounded at base, involving very little substrate on picking, whitish where protected, pale pallid pinkish yellow upward; abortive branchlets none. Major branches several, arising at about the same level, up to 5 mm thick, terete, ascending but not erect, buffy gold when young ("capucine-yellow"), changing to more muted colours ("ochraceous buff", "orange-buff") or dull salmon ("apricot-buff") by maturity; axils rounded to narrowly rounded; intenodes elongating during ontogeny, length diminishing gradually. Apices cuspidate to short-dichotomous at all ages, sometimes inflating in old age to mitten-shaped or subturbinate, yellow to "amber-yellow" to yellow-orange ("capucine-yellow") at all ages. Stipe surface appearing hygrophanous on bruising to perhaps very weakly brunnescent. Odour weakly aromatic; taste weakly fabaceous.

Macrochemical reactions: FCL = slowly deep olive; KOH, NOH, PHN, ANO, PYR, GUA, IKI = negative. Tramal hyphae of branches 5-15 gm diam., inflated, without clamp connections, slightly thick-walled (wall up to 0.6 um thick), hyaline, free to adherent, parallel, tightly packed; ampulliform septa occasional, up to 17 gm broad, usually somewhat thick-walled (wall up to 1 gm thick), unornamented. Subhymenium extensive; hyphae 2.5-4 girt diam., clampless, tortuous. Hymenium thickening; basidia 65-75 x 8-10 gm, clavate, clampless; contents refringent under phase contrast, to multiguttulate, moderately cyanophilous; sterigmata (2)-4, up to 5 gm long, spindly. Basidia hardly persistent after spore discharge.

Spores (Fig. 101) (7.6) 8.6-10.4 x 4-5 gm (E = 1.62¬2.27; E, = 2.06; L^' = 9.10; W°' = 4.40 gm), more or less cylindrical, often with a suprahilar depression, roughened; contents homogeneous to obscurely vacuolate; wall up to 0.2 gm thick; hilar appendix papillate; ornamentation of moderately cyanophilous meandering ridges and warts.

Receptacula ad 60 x 60 mm, ramosa, in circumscriptione obpyramidalia. Stipite parvulo, pruinoso, albo, deorsum contracto; ramis et ramulis aureo-flavis junioribus, vetustioribus flavo-salmoneis, apicibus cuspidatis, flavis ad aurantio-flavis; odore aromatico; sapore leniter fabaceo.Hyphis efibulatis, inflatis; basidiis 65-75 N.m longis, efibulatis; sterigmatibus (2)-4. Sporis 8.6-10.4 x 4-5 gm, plus minusve cylindricis, ornatis, ut in oratione infra.

Micromorphologically, Ramaria anziana closely resembles R. ochraceo-salmonicolor (Clel.) Corner from Australia, but fruit body colours and stature do not match. As its name implies, R. ochraceo-salmonicolor shows yellow-ochre apices and salmon-coloured branches. Fruit bodies also show a significant, single stipe.

Specimen RFRM 32 (PDD) showed considerable gelatinisation of stipe and branch flesh, as well as inflated apices reminiscent of those of Ramaria capitata (Lloyd) Corner from Australia. This may give a clue to a tendency toward these states in the taxon, and the collector should be alert to them.