Witch's Butter (Fungi of Northern Maine)

Witch's Butter

Tremella mesenterica

Summary ⁶

Tremella mesenterica (common names include yellow brain, golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, and witches' butter) is a common jelly fungus in the Tremellaceae family of the Agaricomycotina. It is most frequently found on dead but attached and on recently fallen branches, especially of angiosperms, as a parasite of wood decay fungi in the genus Peniophora. The gelatinous, orange-yellow fruit body of the fungus, which can grow up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) diameter, has a convoluted or lobed...

Worldwide distribution ⁷

Tremella mesenterica is extremely widespread occurring at elevations up to 1420 meters in Northern Europe, Taiwan, Japan, China, North America and Australia. In North America, T. mesenterica occurs primarily in lower elevation hardwood forests of southern Canada and the continental United States.

In Europe, the species is found chiefly in northern countries such as Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, England and Scotland. Within Australia, T. mesenterica is found chiefly in near coastal areas of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and southwest Queensland; the Australian habitat is chiefly rainforest and eucalyptus forest.