Phlebia tremellosa
Description
Phlebia tremellosa (syn. Merulius tremellosus) is a species of fungus in the family Meruliaceae. It is a common and widely distributed wood-decay fungus that grows on the rotting wood of both hardwood and conifer plants. It is found in Asia, Europe, North Africa, North America, and South America.
The network of radiating and cross-veined folds and ridges on the fertile surface of Phlebia species is not a true tube layer as in the true polypores. Basidia cover just the lining of the tubes in the true polypores but basidia cover the entire surface of the pore-like layer in Phlebia.
Other distinguishing features include the translucent, orangish to the pinkish spore-bearing surface, which develops deep folds and pockets; the whitish, hairy upper edge.
Common names: Merulius, Jelly Rot.
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Saprobic; growing alone to gregariously, sometimes in overlapping clusters; found primarily on the deadwood of hardwoods but also reported on conifer wood; causing a white rot; annual; late spring, summer, and fall (overwinter in warmer climates); widely distributed in North America.
Fruiting Body
3-10 cm across; irregularly shaped; resupinate except for a stubby upper edge; upper surface where developed woolly and whitish; without a stem; up to about 5 mm thick.
Undersurface
Translucent; often somewhat gelatinous; orangish to pinkish, or orange to red when mature; elaborately wrinkled and pocketed.
Flesh
Whitish; very thin.
Spore Print
White.
Microscopic Features
Spores 3.5-4.5 x 1-2 µ; smooth; sausage-shaped; inamyloid; biguttulate in KOH. Cystidia scattered; clavate; scarcely projecting; apices often incrusted.
History
In 1794 the German botanist and mycologist Heinrich Adolf Schrader described this wood-roting fungus, giving it the binomial scientific name Merulius tremellosus. The currently-accepted scientific name Phlebia tremellosa dates from a 1984 publication by American mycologist Karen Nakasone and Harold H. Burdsall.
Synonyms: Xylomyzon tremellosum (Schrad.) Pers., and Merulius spongiosus (Fr.) Mussat.
Phlebia, the genus name, comes from the Greek phleps, phleb- meaning, or about veins. The specific epithet tremellosa means trembling and is a reference to the jelly-like structure of mature reflexed fruitbodies, which wobble it they are touched.
Video
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)