Bisporella citrina - Lemon Disco

Taxonomy

Phylum: Ascomycota

Class: Leotiomycetes

Order: Leotiales

Family: Helotiaceae (insertae sedis)

This colourful wood-rotting fungus is commonly found on dead oaks and other hardwoods.

Citrin- literally means lemon-yellow, but don't let that mislead you: often the fruitbodies are a bright daffodil yellow.

Tiny they may be, but because of its gregarious nature (thetiny fruitbodies can swarm in hudreds or even thousands on a fallen trunk) the Lemon Disco is not a difficult fungus to spot.

Identification Guide

	Fruitbody Lemon or bright yellow, paler at margin; flat-topped or saucer-shaped disc with a very short, tapered stem; normally in swarms; gelatinous; individual fruitbodies 1 to 3mm across and 1 to 2mm tall.
Spores	White.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On rotting trunks and stumps of broadleaf trees, particularly oaks.
Season	Fruiting in late summer, autumn and early winter.
Occurrence	Widespread and very common.
Similar species	The basidiomycete Dacrymyces stillatus, known as Common Jellyspot, is typically smaller but can sometimes be of comparable size; it is a similar colour but the fruitbodies are usually blob-like rather than cup shaped.