Tremella mesenterica.
Natural size.
T. mesenter´ica Retz. Gr—the mesentary. Gelatinous but firm, bright orange-yellow, variously contorted; lobes short, smooth, pruinose with the white spores at maturity. Spores broadly elliptical, 6–9µ diameter; conidia 1–1.5µ diameter.
On dead branches. Very variable in form but known by the bright orange color. From ½-2 in. across. Massee.
North Carolina. Common, edible. Curtis; California, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. McIlvaine. Dr. J.R. Weist, Richmond, Ind., November, 1898, sent me fine specimens.
Very common as an apparent exudation from sticks, branches and rails. It can usually be collected in quantity from June until far into the winter. It can be found in every month in the year.
During the civil war the writer’s first attempt at making a dish of cornstarch resulted in getting it into knots. T. mesenterica, when stewed, very much resembles these same knots. It has a mild, woody flavor, slightly sweet, and is good.
Tremella mycetophila on
Collybia dryophila.
(After Peck.)
T. myceto´phila Pk. (Plate CXLIVa.) Suborbicular, depressed, circling in folds, tremelloid-fleshy, slightly pruinose, yellowish or pallid, 4–8 lines broad. Peck, 28th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.