Jelly Fungi of the United Kingdom
Toothed Jelly Fungus (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum)
↳ credit: Paul Bowyer, Wikimedia Commons
A translucent, colour shifting gem from above, hiding a gorgeous spiky underbelly. Only growing on the most decayed of woods, it makes me think; what teeth do we keep hidden? Why?
Seen only occasionally in Britain during late summer to early winter, the rarest on this list. (I just think its so gorgeous it had to be here.)
Saprophytic, found on well rotted spruce and pine. Requires a shady location.
Purple Jellydisc (Ascocoryne sarcoides)
↳ credit: woodlands.co.uk
A velvety purple array of magenta coloured discs. More beautiful than any wildflower, I look for this mushroom when I want to see a small piece of the sublime within rot.
Common throughout the United Kingdom in the late summer through to early winter.
Saprophytic, so found on rotting trunks and stumps of broadleaf trees, particularly Beech. It has also been seen on the stems of living spruce.
Judas’s Ear (Auricularia auricula-judae)
↳ credit: Wikimedia commons
Since the life and death of Judas Iscariot, the Elder tree has represented both good and evil. Now, when one sees the downy folds of Judas’s Ear they are reminded of his torment, and of their own.
Common and fruiting all year round throughout the United Kingdom, but with limited distribution far north and far west.
Saprophytic, so found on primarily dead and decaying wood (favouring Elder). It can also be found on weak and dying, but living, Elders. Occasionally found on other hardwood trees.
Yellow Stagshorn (Calocera viscosa)
↳ credit: Martinshaw Wood, Naturespot UK
With a golden yellow colour and distinctive waxy texture coating their dual branching basidia, the Yellow Stagshorn reaches up to the sky and asks, “Where have I come from? Where can I go?”
Fairly common throughout the United Kingdom. Although it fruits for most of the year, it is most common to see in in a damp autumn.
Saprophytic, so found on the roots and stumps of decaying conifers.
Black Witches Butter (Exidia glandulosa)
↳ credit: Simon Harding, First Nature
Theorised to have provided protection against witches when thrown in fire, these midnight gelatinous bodies decorate fallen trees like shards of obsidian. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair;”
A common find throughout the UK and Ireland. Fruits all year, but is more common in late autumn through to early spring.
Saprophytic, therefore found mostly on the roots of dead and decaying hardwood/broad-leaved trees, primarily Oak, Hazel and Beech.
Amber Jelly (Exidia recisa)
↳ credit: Melinda Bell, Naturespot UK
Looking up at the corpse of a weeping willow, one can almost see its dying tears in the gelatinous amber coloured fruiting bodies of the jelly roll. When dry, they shrivel to almost nothing before being revived by the rains. To live forever.
Found in damp local pockets throughout the UK and northern Ireland. Most commonly spotted through late autumn to early spring.
Saprophytic, almost exclusively to dead and decaying willow trees.
Crystal Brain Fungus (Myxarium nucleatum)
↳ credit: Hobro Skov, Jylland
The forest is connected with a network of hyphae so complex that to comprehend it is to understand the world less. Small, crystalline brains sprouting from the hardest of fallen trees serve to remind one of the world that remains hidden from us.
Found primarily in the south of England, with sparse coverage in the rest of the United Kingdom. Most often fruit in Autumn and Winter.
Saprophytic, found most commonly dead and decaying hardwood. Primarily sycamore, beech and ash trees. Also spotted on alders, elder, elms, hawthorns, oaks and willows
Leafy Brain (Phaeotremella foliacea)
↳ credit: Tony Mellor, First Nature
This tightly packed group of folds and lobes, more delicate than any brain, is found nestled on the wood of dead trees. Not completing natural decay, but strangling the fungi wishing to complete the breakdown. We strangle each other, if given the chance.
Relatively common throughout the United Kingdom, as well as almost every other continent. It is most often seen in the damp months of Autumn and Winter.
It is not saprophytic, but parasitic. It feeds off of bracket and crust fungi on the dead timber of broadleaf trees and conifers.
Witches’ Butter (Tremella mesenterica)
↳ credit: Jean-Pol Gradmont, Wikimedia Commons
Once can imagine a farmer walking through the woods and spying this crimped yellow jewel on a fallen branch. Such a beautiful, unusual object must be magical.
“Hover through the fog and filthy air”
Found all through the United Kingdom, primarily in late autumn and early winter.
Also parasitic. It is found mostly on fallen timber from broad-leaf trees, primarily hazel and birch. It attacks crust fungi like those in the genus Peniphora.
This is a collection of the most common Jelly fungi in the UK. They are among my favourite organisms in the world. Always utterly gorgeous.