Spores: long, cylindrical or oblong, and slightly curved and 12-15 × 5-6 µm in size; they characteristically have 2 to 4 cross-walls dividing the interior of the spore (see below).
Cystidia: absent.
Habitat & Distribution: Common on all sorts of old wood, particularly on fence-posts, wooden railway-sleepers and other worked timber outside, e.g. sides of summer-houses and garden sheds. It is also found on twigs and branches in woods and copses.
General Information: This fungus is found throughout the year, but it is much more obvious under damp conditions when it is strongly gelatinised and very soft; when dry it almost disappears. The tissue bearing the basidia (perfect state) is yellow, when orange there is a predominance of asexually produced spores called arthrospores (conidia).
D. deliquescens is only another name for the same fungus. There are several species of Dacrymyces with which D. stillatus can be confused, but can only be separated with certainty by using a microscope. The Coral-spot fungus, frequently found in gardens, produces gelatinous, pink protuberances on wood especially that of sycamore, and may easily be mistaken for species of Dacrymyces. It consists entirely of asexually produced spores (conidia) of the Ascomycete Nectria cinnabarina. The perfect state appears late in the year as grouped, small, blood-red flask-shaped fruit-bodies containing envelopes of spores. It is quite unrelated to Dacrymyces.
Calocera viscosa (Fries) Fries described earlier ([p. 170]) is closely related to Dacrymyces. The much smaller, and probably equally as common, Calocera cornea (Fries) Fries is simple, club-shaped and yellow, but darkens to become orange on drying. It grows up to 10 mm high and occurs on all sorts of wood; it is especially common on wet beech trunks. It approaches Dacrymyces more than the much larger C. viscosa.
Illustrations: D. deliquescens—LH 225; NB 1497; WD 10710. C. cornea—WD 1079.
Hirneola auricula-judae (St Amans) Berkeley Jew’s ear
Fruit-body: width 20-75 mm.
Description: