365 Urban Species. #073: Witch's Butter
Urban species #073: Witch's butter Tremella mesenterica
Witch's butter is a striking fungus that always elicits a reaction. That reaction is not always positive ("eww!") but I think it deserves a closer look. Get close so that you can see that light is passing through it, see that it is a genuinely translucent organism, like a jellyfish. Touch it (go on, don't be a baby!) and feel that it's not gooey, but a firm gel. Now would be a good time for me to tell you that its scientific name translates to "trembling middle intestine."
Of course, what we can see is not the entire organism. The orange jelly part is the spore-producing body of a much larger, but unseen fungus. Most of the creature is invisible, feeding on the mycelium of other fungi. In fact all members of the Tremella genus are parasitic on fungi in the genera Peniophora and Stereum. Since these are wood-digesting fungi, witch's butter is always found on dead wood. You can find witch's butter at almost any time of the year, but it prefers cool wet days in early spring and early fall.
(photo by cottonmanifesto)
Witch's butter is a striking fungus that always elicits a reaction. That reaction is not always positive ("eww!") but I think it deserves a closer look. Get close so that you can see that light is passing through it, see that it is a genuinely translucent organism, like a jellyfish. Touch it (go on, don't be a baby!) and feel that it's not gooey, but a firm gel. Now would be a good time for me to tell you that its scientific name translates to "trembling middle intestine."
Of course, what we can see is not the entire organism. The orange jelly part is the spore-producing body of a much larger, but unseen fungus. Most of the creature is invisible, feeding on the mycelium of other fungi. In fact all members of the Tremella genus are parasitic on fungi in the genera Peniophora and Stereum. Since these are wood-digesting fungi, witch's butter is always found on dead wood. You can find witch's butter at almost any time of the year, but it prefers cool wet days in early spring and early fall.
(photo by cottonmanifesto)