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Yellow brain fungus (Tremella mesenterica)

Дрожалка
Current name

Index Fungorum  Tremella mesenterica (Schaeff.) Pers.

MycoBank     Tremella mesenterica Retz.

Other names

Golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, witches butter.

Systematic position
Specific epithet etymology

Mesentericus, -a, -um (microbiol.): resembling the mesentery, mesenteric; folded. From mesenterium + -icus.

Synonyms

Oncomyces mesenterica (Retz.) Klotzsch (1843) 

Oncomyces mesentericus (Retz.) Klotzsch, Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosum 19 (Suppl. 1): 240 (1843) 

Helvella mesenterica Schaeff., Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur Icones 4: 108 (1774)

Tremella lutescens Pers., Icones et Descriptiones Fungorum Minus Cognitorum 2: 33, t. 8:9 (1800) 

Tremella quercina Pollini, Giorn. Fis., Chim., Storia nat. med., ed Arti 9: 180 (1816) 

Elvela mesenterica Schaeff. (1774) 

Habit
Fruiting body
Gelatinous, jelly-like
Hymenophore
Smooth, indistinct
Fruiting period (list)
AugAugust (1st–10th)August (11th–20th)August (21st–31st)SepSeptember (1st–10th)September (11th–20th)September (21st–30th)OctOctober (1st–10th)
Fruit body

Typically 2–5 cm across, sessile. It consists of tightly packed, convoluted folds and rounded or flattened lobes. Young fruit bodies are more compact and brain-like; as they develop, the lobes expand and their edges become wavy.

The surface is smooth, glabrous, and shiny when moist. The color is yellow, golden-yellow, or orange-yellow; it may fade with age or prolonged exposure to moisture. Upon drying, the fruit body shrinks significantly, turning into a thin, orange-yellow crust.

The hymenophore is smooth and located on the surface of the lobes.

Flesh

Gelatinous, firm, yellow; translucent in thinner areas. Taste indistinct.

Odor

No distinct odor.

Microscopy

Spore print white. Spores 10–13(14) × 7–9 µm, broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, hyaline, thin-walled, with a droplet of contents and a distinct apiculus.

Ecology and distribution

A mycoparasite that develops on the fruiting bodies (or mycelium) of xylotrophic fungi of the genus *Peniophora*. Its fruiting bodies appear on dead branches and other wood of deciduous trees, often on wood that still retains its bark. It occurs singly or in small clusters.

A widely distributed species; it has been recorded in Russia, Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.

Fruiting

August–september.

Nutritional properties
Edible

An edible mushroom, though one of no culinary value.

Similar species

Дрожалка золотистая (Naematelia aurantia) внешне очень похожа: образует жёлтые или оранжево-жёлтые студенистые складчатые плодовые тела. Связана со стереумом жёстковолосистым (Stereum hirsutum). У N. aurantia базидии и базидиоспоры в целом мельче. 

Notes

Malysheva V. F., Malysheva E. F., Bulakh E. M. The genus Tremella (Tremellales, Basidiomycota) in Russia with description of two new species and proposal of one nomenclatural combination // Phytotaxa. — 2015. — Vol. 238, no. 1. — P. 40–70. 

Kuo M. Tremella mesenterica // MushroomExpert.Com. — 2018. — October.

Roberts P. British Tremella species I: Tremella aurantia & T. mesenterica // Mycologist. — 1995. — Vol. 9, no. 3. — P. 110–114.

Towards an integrated phylogenetic classification of the Tremellomycetes / X.-Z. Liu, Q.-M. Wang, M. Göker [et al.] // Studies in Mycology. — 2015. — Vol. 81. — P. 85–147.

 

Координаты
Link to this page for printed editions
Шиповалов А.Г. Yellow brain fungus (Tremella mesenterica) - Прикладная микология [Электронный ресурс] URL: https://xn----7sbancweblffgklubds60aja.xn--p1ai/en/yellow-brain-fungus-tremella-mesenterica (дата обращения: 28.09.2026).
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