Sebacina schweinitzii
What You Should Know
Sebacina schweinitzii is a coral mushroom is in the family Sebacinaceae. Found throughout summer in abundance. It is white to yellowish, partially fused roundish to flattened blunt erect branches arise from central base; flesh tough/leathery. Odor not distinctive.
Believe it or not, mycologists place it with the jelly fungi, on the basis of the microscopic structure of its spore-producing basidia.
Other names: False Coral.
Sebacina schweinitzii Mushroom Identification
Fruiting Body
At first a whitish patch of fuzz, developing over a few weeks into a coral-like structure up to 10 cm high and 6 cm wide, with flattened branches arising from fused bases.
Branches
Flattened; bald; dry; whitish to buff when fresh and young, becoming yellowish with age and often developing green shades (from algae) when very old; tips flattened, colored like the branches, becoming somewhat ragged with age.
Flesh
Stringy and very tough; whitish.
Odor and Taste
Odor not distinctive; taste slightly bitter.
Chemical Reactions
Iron salts negative on branches.
Spore Print
White.
Distribution
Spring through late fall; widely distributed east of the Great Plains (also reported from New Mexico and Texas).
Habitat
Mycorrhizal with oaks and possibly with other hardwoods; growing alone or gregariously on the ground, in soil or moss.
Sebacina schweinitzii Synonyms
Tremellodendron pallidum
Tremellodendron schweinitzii
Sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Robert(the 3 foragers) (the3foragers) (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
Photo 2 - Author: Alan Rockefeller (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)