Dacrymyces palmatus
Also called: Witch's Butter and
Dacrymyces chrysospermus
From Hike on Herman Creek Trail
10/21/14 Led by Wendal Wood of Oregon Wild
Witch's Butter This fungus develops on dead pine trees whose bark has fallen
away.
Tremella mesenterica is a bit similar, they are more yellow in colour,
and they fruit only on hardwood trees which still have their bark.
Tremella mesenterica is also known as Witch’s butter.
Both these forms of Witch’s butter are edible ONLY when they are boiled or
steamed. From ediblewildfood.com -- click here to read more --
Dacrymyces chrysospermus is a yellow-orange jelly fungus which closely
mimics Tremella aurantia, the common witch's butter.
The two taxa are best told apart in the field by differences in habit
and substrate. Tremella aurantia is a parasite of Stereum species and
typically fruits with its host on hardwoods usually with intact bark.
In contrast, Dacrymyces chrysospermus occurs on decorticated conifer
wood and is not associated with Stereum species. Despite their similar
appearance, the two taxa are actually distantly related as evidenced by
their very different microscopic characters. Tremella aurantia has
basidia which are longitudinally septate and ovate spores,
while Dacrymyces chrysospermus has
tuning-fork shaped basidia and multi-septate, curved-oblong spores. From mykoweb.com -- click here for more info ---
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