Tremella aurantia

Description

Tremella aurantia is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. This little gem belongs to the jelly fungus group, so named because their rubbery fruiting bodies appear to have the consistency of jelly.

The fruiting bodies are usually golden yellow and gelatinous when damp, turning orange and shriveling to a tiny fraction of its former size during very dry weather; initially disc-like, the fruit body soon develops irregular convoluted folds with rounded margins.

Depending on environmental conditions, Tremella aurantia can become quite dry, shriveled, and hard in texture, making it difficult to spot, but after periods of rain Tremellas often return to their jelly-like state, as seen above, and become much more easily recognizable.

Tremella aurantia has been found in many other European countries from Norway down to Portugal, and so it seems very likely that this species might also occur in Scotland. In North America, where it is commonly called Golden Ear, Tremella aurantia is reported to be a widespread and abundant jelly fungus.

It is edible but without flavor.

Common names: Golden Ear.

Mushroom Identification

1. Sporocarp

   Fruit bodies 2-10 cm broad, consisting of clustered, convoluted folds with blunt margins; surface yellow, to yellowish-orange, shiny when wet, otherwise dull; context gelatinous, drying to a stiff, hard crust, reviving after periods of moisture; odor and taste not distinctive.

2. Spores

   Spores 6.0-9.5 x 6.0-7.5 µm, subglobose to ovoid, smooth, thin-walled with a conspicuous hilar appendage; basidia longitudinally septate, typically stalked, 10-14 µm broad.

3. Spore Print

   White.

4. Habitat

   Gregarious on downed hardwoods in coastal forests as well as low elevations of the Sierra Nevada; parasitizing Stereum hirsutum; fruiting throughout the mushroom season; common.

Look-Alikes

1. Dacrymyces palmatus

   Typically is more orange, and unlike the Tremella species, is saprobic on conifer wood. A helpful field mark is a whitish attachment point to the substrate. Microscopically, tuning-fork type basidia differentiates it from the longitudinally, septate, cruciate type basidia of Tremella.

2. Tremella mesenterica

   Has basidia which are stalked instead of sessile and parasitize the mycelium of Stereum hirsutum instead of Peniophora.

3. Tremella foliacea

   Brown and has a lobed structure.

History

This jelly fungus was originally described in 1822 by American mycologist Lewis David von Schweinitz (1780 - 1834), who named it Tremella aurantia, by which name mycologists still refer to it today.

Tremella, the generic name means trembling – a reference to the wobbly-jelly-like structure of fungi within this grouping.

The specific epithet aurantia means orange – a reference to the fruitbody color.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Franco Folini from San Francisco, USA (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photo 2 - Author: zack mikalonis (zackm) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Kingman Bond Graham (Kingman) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Sarah Prentice (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 5 - Author: Wen Hsu (qin2tang2) (CC BY-SA 3.0)