Chapter C: The Jelly Fungi

_Key to the major groups_

The jelly fungi or Hymenomycetous heterobasidiae is a complex group of fungi and not only includes our common jelly fungi but many microscopic forms some of which are parasitic. The group is divided into three main divisions depending on the position of the cross-walls within the basidium, or whether the basidium is in the shape of a tuning-fork. They are probably not closely related one to another.

=Auriculariales= (Basidia divided into cells by transverse walls)

1. Fruit-body lacking a cap and more or less forming a gelatinous
coating on plant-debris _Helicobasidium_

Fruit-body with more or less distinct cap, gelatinous but tough 2

2. Fruit-body ear-like or cup-shaped; upper surface with grey hairs
and lower surface lilaceous brown or wine-coloured _Hirneola_

Fruit-body at first cup-shaped but then spreading; upper surface
grey and hairy, and lower surface purplish. _Auricularia_

=Tremellales= (Basidia divided into cells by longitudinal walls)

1. Fruit-body with distinct stem and spines on lower surface
_Pseudohydnum_

Fruit-body lacking a well-developed stem, either reduced to a small
lobe or entirely absent 2

2. Fruit-body flattened or disc-shaped, often with warts or veins on
the surface; spores more or less sausage-shaped _Exidia_

Fruit-body brain-like or with irregular bumps, sometimes lobed or
irregular and encrusting 3

3. Fruit-body brain-like or with bumps or bosses; spores rounded or
ovoid _Tremella_

Fruit-body encrusting woody or herbaceous material; spores
ellipsoid _Sebacina_

=Dacrymycetales= (Basidia resembling the shape of a tuning-fork)

1. Fruit-body club-shaped or coral-like _Calocera_

Fruit-body top-shaped or with irregular bumps 2

2. Fruit-body top-shaped _Femsjonia_

Fruit-body cushion- or brain-like, or with irregular bumps
_Dacrymyces_

~Dacrymyces stillatus~ Nees ex Fries

_Fruit-body_: 3-6 mm.

_Description_:

Fruit-body: cushion or brain-like, often irregular, lacking any
evidence of stem, yellow or orange, gelatinous, covered entirely by
spore-bearing tissue.

Spore-print: yellowish.

Spores: long, cylindrical or oblong, and slightly curved and 12-15 ×
5-6 µm in size; they characteristically have 2 to 4 cross-walls
dividing the interior of the spore (see below).

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common on all sorts of old wood,
particularly on fence-posts, wooden railway-sleepers and other worked
timber outside, e.g. sides of summer-houses and garden sheds. It is
also found on twigs and branches in woods and copses.

_General Information_: This fungus is found throughout the year, but
it is much more obvious under damp conditions when it is strongly
gelatinised and very soft; when dry it almost disappears. The tissue
bearing the basidia (perfect state) is yellow, when orange there is a
predominance of asexually produced spores called arthrospores
(conidia).

_D. deliquescens_ is only another name for the same fungus. There are
several species of _Dacrymyces_ with which _D. stillatus_ can be
confused, but can only be separated with certainty by using a
microscope. The Coral-spot fungus, frequently found in gardens,
produces gelatinous, pink protuberances on wood especially that of
sycamore, and may easily be mistaken for species of _Dacrymyces_. It
consists entirely of asexually produced spores (conidia) of the
Ascomycete _Nectria cinnabarina_. The perfect state appears late in
the year as grouped, small, blood-red flask-shaped fruit-bodies
containing envelopes of spores. It is quite unrelated to _Dacrymyces_.

~Calocera viscosa~ (Fries) Fries described earlier (p. 170) is closely
related to _Dacrymyces_. The much smaller, and probably equally as
common, _Calocera cornea_ (Fries) Fries is simple, club-shaped and
yellow, but darkens to become orange on drying. It grows up to 10 mm
high and occurs on all sorts of wood; it is especially common on wet
beech trunks. It approaches _Dacrymyces_ more than the much larger _C.
viscosa_.

_Illustrations_: _D. deliquescens_--LH 225; NB 149⁷; WD 107¹⁰. _C.
cornea_--WD 107⁹.

~Hirneola auricula-judae~ (St Amans) Berkeley

Jew’s ear

_Fruit-body_: width 20-75 mm.

_Description_:

Fruit-body: cup or ear-shaped, red-brown or deep wine-colour,
gelatinous with its upper surface, velvety and clothed in greyish or
olivaceous hairs.

Spore-bearing layer: reddish or purplish brown, smooth or veined and
translucent.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: very long, hyaline under the microscope, oblong, curved and
narrowed towards their base, 16-18 × 6-8 µm in size.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: On dead branches of all kinds and
particularly common throughout the year on elder.

_General Information_: Easily recognised by the wine-coloured,
cup-shaped or ear-shaped fruit-body; it is often called _Auricularia
judae_ in many books. Its Latin name is reflected in the common
name:--_auricula_ ear and _judae_, of a jew. This fungus is supposed
to be a reappearance, as a warning to us all, of Judas, who on
betrayal of Christ hung himself from an elder tree.

~Auricularia mesenterica~ (S. F. Gray) Persoon, ‘Tripe-fungus’, is
bracket-shaped with a hairy upper surface and reddish purple or deep
purple lower surface which when fresh has a greyish bloom due to the
formation of the spores.

There are several fungi in the group Auriculariales in Britain, but
many of them are inconspicuous and are identified with difficulty
except by the expert. _Sebacina incrustans_ (Fries) Tulasne is a
common more obvious example of the resupinate forms. It grows as a
cream or ivory-coloured, soft fruit-body encrusting twigs, leaves,
grass and soil.

_Illustrations_: LH 225; NB 149¹; WD 107¹.

~Exidia glandulosa~ (St Amans) Fries

Witch’s butter

_Fruit-body_: width 15-50 mm.

_Description_:

Fruit-body: sessile or shortly stalked, blackish, variable in shape,
rounded, flattened, disc-shaped or convolute, gelatinous with its
under surface tomentose and free from the substrate.

Fruiting surface: uppermost, wavy and folded, and with numerous
wart-like projections.

Spore-print: white.

Spores: long, hyaline, cylindrical, sausage-shaped and 12-15 × 5 µm in
size.

Cystidia: absent.

_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Frequent in crowded groups on stumps, logs
and fallen branches of broad-leaved trees, especially those of ash;
common throughout the year.

_General Information_: _Tremella foliacea_ (S. F. Gray) Persoon and
_Tremella mesenterica_ Hooker are similar but more convoluted with
leaf-like lobes. The former is cinnamon brown and occurs on conifer
wood and its spores are 7-9 × 5-7 µm, whilst the latter is bright
golden yellow or orange-yellow and occurs on broad-leaved trees. _T.
mesenterica_ has spores 7-8 × 5-6 µm, often accompanied or replaced by
small, asexually produced spores.

Glandulosa--means full of glands and refers to the glands of the upper
surface of the Witch’s butter.

The convoluted fruit-body of the _Tremella_ spp. is reflected in the
word foliacea--leafy, and mesenterica--middle intestine. The last
species is also often called the ‘Yellow brain-fungus’.

_Illustrations_: _Exidia glandulosa_--LH 225; NB 149⁴; WD 107³.
_Tremella mesenterica_--LH 225; NB 149⁵; WD 107⁶.