CHAPTER XII.
THE TREMBLING FUNGI: TREMELLINEAE.
These fungi are called the trembling fungi because of their gelatinous consistency. The colors vary from white, yellow, orange, reddish, brownish, etc., and the form is various, often very irregular, leaf-like, or strongly folded and uneven. They are when fresh usually very soft, clammy to the touch, and yielding like a mass of gelatine. They usually grow on wood, but some species grow on the ground, and some are parasitic. The fruit surface usually covers the entire outer surface of the plant, but in some it is confined to one side of the plant. The basidia are peculiar to the order, are deeply seated in the substance of the plant, rounded or globose, and divided into four cells in a cruciate manner. From each one of these cells of the basidium a long, slender process (sterigma) grows out to the surface of the plant and bears the spore. A few species only are treated of here.
TREMELLA Dill.
In this genus the plants are gelatinous or cartilaginous. The form of the plant is usually very much contorted, fold-like or leaf-like, and very much branched. The fruiting surface extends over the entire upper surface of the plant.
Figure 205.—Tremella mycetophila, on Collybia dryophila (natural size).
Tremella lutescens Pers.—This plant is entirely yellow, and occurs on branches. It is 2–5 cm. in diameter, and is strongly folded, somewhat like the folds of a brain (gyrose). It is very soft and inclined to be watery and fluid, and is of a bright yellow color, spread out on the surface of rotten wood. It is of world-wide distribution, and appears from mid-summer to late autumn.