An igniter for igniting a fuel-air-mixture in a combustion chamber, in particular in a combustion engine with one or several combustion chambers, by generating a high frequency corona discharge, said ignitiger comprising an assembly comprising an ignition electrode, an outer conductor surrounding the ignition electrode, which has a front end and a rear end, and an electrical insulator arranged between the ignition electrode and the outer conductor, wherein the ignition electrode is part of an electrical high-frequency resonant circuit, protrudes over the front end of the outer conductor, and is connected to an alternate current source or alternate voltage source which feeds the HF-resonant circuit, and delivers a high frequency alternate current or a high frequency alternate voltage, respectively. The ignition electrode is branched into more than four electrode branches extending away from the outer conductor, in different directions.