Tremella mesenterica: Witch's Butter

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by Michael Kuo

Nothing is better, slopped over a nice slice of ram's bladder, garnished with shavings of bat wings, than Tremella mesenterica--if you're a witch. If you're not a witch, you're not likely to want to try eating Witch's Butter. Though officially "edible," it is entirely unappetizing, and by most accounts, witchcraft is probably required to cook it without turning it into liquid.

Description:

Ecology: Parasitic on the mycelium or fruiting bodies of species of Peniophora--a genus of crust fungi that are parasitic and/or saprobic on the decaying sticks and logs of hardwoods; growing in amorphous clusters; spring, summer, fall, and winter; widely distributed in North America.

Fruiting Body: Gelatinous; when young and fresh composed of lobes or brainlike sections, but rather formless in age or in wet weather; clear yellow to yellow or sometimes orangish, fading when mature or when wet; without a stem; sometimes becoming tough and crustlike when dried out.

Spore Print: Whitish or pale yellowish.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-18 x 6-14 µ; elliptical to nearly round; basidia longitudinally walled.

REFERENCES: Retzius, 1769. (Atkinson, 1900; Arora, 1986; Lincoff, 1992.)

Tremella lutescens is a synonym. Dacrymyces palmatus is a look-alike, but it grows on conifer wood, is smaller, has a tough, white point of attachment, and usually demonstrates colors that are more orange. It is also microscopically distinct; its basidia are Y-shaped.

Further Online Information:

Tremella mesenterica at MykoWeb
Tremella mesenterica at Fungi of Poland

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2005, January). Tremella mesenterica: Witch's butter. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tremella_mesenterica.html