Keep your eyes open when you’re walking in the woods, mushroom season is upon us! Jocie and I found this fantastic jelly fungus growing on a fallen Douglas Fir while walking the Karst Creek Trail in Strathcona Provincial Park today.
Commonly called Orange Jelly (Dacrymyces palmatus) and often mistaken as Witch’s Butter (Tremella lutescens), this delightful, bright orange fungus is a perfect sighting for Hallowe’en. Orange Jelly usually appears late in the fall. It grows on wood, favouring softwood over the hardwood that the yellow Witch’s Butter prefers.
Orange jelly dissolves into a wet, formless mass as it gets older whereas Witch’s Butter becomes hard and leathery. It also changes from yellow to a dull red/orange. To see a great photograph of Witch’s Butter in its dried out state check out Dutch Baby’s post Lichen and Witch’s Butter.
According to both Mushrooms Demystified (David Arora) and The New Savory Wild Mushroom (Margaret McKenny and Daniel E. Stuntz) Orange Jelly is edible but apparently flavourless and not worth eating. They “melt” when cooked so must be eaten raw, pickled or marinated.
As with any wild plant or mushroom it is important to know exactly what you’ve harvested before you eat it. Remember, any mushroom is edible – once!
This is so very interesting. I took a photo of a fungus a few months back but I didn’t know what it was. Do you think this is orange jelly? http://www.flickr.com/photos/godutchbaby/4008393245/in/set-72157615787459496/
It doesn’t quite look the same but it might just be older – more oxidized and wrinkled.
It is weird stuff isn’t it. I have seen it before and just poked it. Very interesting to know more about it. MB
Had a look at your image DutchBaby and it looks to me like a dried out Witch’s Butter (Tremula lutescens – also called T. mesenterica). According to New Savory, Witch’s Butter becomes orange red in colour and tough in texture when dried. That definitely fits the appearance of your photograph. Orange Jelly apparently just disintegrates when it gets older so that also makes me lean toward Witch’s Butter. It also looks like the fungus is on hardwood, perhaps an apple tree(?), so that would fit with habitat as well. Very cool image by the way – nice and crisp and well composed!
Thanks for your comment Mary Beth – I always like finding this fungus, and like you, enjoy poking it! I had always assumed that it was Witch’s Butter so it was neat to learn that it was a different kind of jelly fungus. Maybe it should be called Witch’s Jelly?!?
You sure have a fantastic photo of this! Gorgeous!
I found some near a pond in Busiek Park, Missouri, but it was white.
Hi Dawn – I’m not familiar with the jelly fungi in central North America. Did it look anything like a Toothed Jelly Fungus? If you can post a picture on Flickr I can take a look at it, or send me the album link to where you posted it on Facebook.