jelly fungus

English

Auricularia auricula-judae, an edible jelly fungus

Noun

jelly fungus (plural jelly fungi)

1. Any of various fungi with an irregularly branched fruiting body apparently of jelly-like consistency.
   • 1968, Robert Thomas Orr, Dorothy B. Orr, Mushrooms and Other Common Fungi of Southern California, page 18:

     This yellow jelly fungus, commonly known as Witch's Butter, is seen only during the rainy season.

   • 2005, Ming Hao Pei, Carlos Bayon, Carmen Ruiz, “1: Phylogenetic Position of Melampsora in Rust Fungi Inferred from Ribosomal DNA Sequences”, in Ming Hao Pei, Alistair R. McCracken, editors, Rust Diseases of Willow and Poplar, page 4:

     Auricularia (jelly fungi) was placed within Hymenomycetes in the gene trees, which showed that the split between Urediniomycetes and Hymenomycetes occurred long before the split between jelly fungi and mushrooms.

   • 2010, Michael Kuo, Andy Methven, 100 Cool Mushrooms, page 185:

     Tremella fuciformis is a tropical and subtropical jelly fungus found on hardwood logs after heavy rains. It is whitish or nearly transparent, and fairly large (up to 7 cm across)—and it features graceful gelatinous lobes rather than the glob-like blobs that typify so many other jelly fungi.

Usage notes

Jelly fungi were formerly included in the (now obsolete) paraphyletic grouping Heterobasidiomycetes, but are now spread among several orders: Tremellales, Dacrymycetales, Auriculariales, and Sebacinales. The grouping Heterobasidiomycetes is still used informally.

Translations

fungus

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膠質菌／胶质菌 (jiāozhìjūn)

• Dutch: echt judasoor n
• Finnish: hytykkä (more specifically Tremella)