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Can you help?
We would like to extend our coverage of this interesting group of fungi. If you have taken suitable pictures of other related species and are willing for us to show them - with proper acknowledgement of course - we would be most grateful. If you can help, please email us...
The Tremellales and fungi of related orders are members of the
division known as the Heterobasidiomycetes, a small group of fungi with
jelly-like texture. The Yellow Brain Fungus is perhaps the best known species in
this group.
The characters that define the Heterobasidiomycetes are microscopic
and relate to the physical structure of the basidium, where the spores are
formed. There are also several jelly-like fungi among the Homobasidiomycetes (the
division also containing the familiar cap-and-stem mushrooms and toadstools) -
for example Bulgaria
inquinans. We
should not assume, therefore, that all
gelatinous fungi are Heterobasidiomycetes.
Larger pictures, identification guides and a wealth of information on these
and hundreds of other species are contained on the First-Nature CD-ROM Guide to Fungi.
| Included in this group, the Heterobasidiomycetes, are several orders of
rather gelatinous fungi, some club shaped, others coral-like in structure and a
further set forming amorphous blobs. The Heterobasidiomycetes are
characterised by the nature of the cells on which the spores develop; they are
either septate (partitioned internally) or split into long prongs. Such details
can only be investigated microscopically, of course, but in practice many of the
so-called Jelly Fungi are quite distinctive and easy to identify in the field
from macroscopic features. |
| The Tremellales is a small order of jelly-like fungi in a range of
colours including white, yellow, orange brown and black. The most common fungus
in this group is Tremella mesenterica (Yellow Brain Fungus). Some 140
European species from within this order have so far been identified and
described. |
Yellow Brain Fungus
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| The order Auriculariales comprises some 50 European species in a single
family, the Auriculariaceae. The name comes from their family
characteristic of being lobed rather like an ear. Apart from Auricularia
auricula-judae (Jew's Ear Fungus) very few of these are commonly encountered. |
Jews Ear
Fungus
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