Witches’ Butter

(Tremella mesenterica)

Conservation Status
Witches’ Butter
Photo by Heather Ellis
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

not listed

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Witches’ Butter is a very common and widespread jelly fungus. It occurs worldwide on every continent except Antarctica. In the United States it occurs east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains, and is mostly absent in between. It obtains its nutrients by parasitizing wood-rotting crust fungi in the genus Peniophora. It occurs singly or in groups on logs, branches, and twigs of oaks and other hardwoods. The wood on which it is found may be fallen or still on the tree but is always dead and usually has the bark still attached.

When young and fresh the fruiting body is one or more stemless, gelatinous but tough, ¾ to 4 wide, 1 to 2 in height lobes and folds. The lobes are translucent, shiny, and pale orangish-yellow to bright yellowish-orange. When clustered, they fuse together and resemble an exposed brain. They are mostly water. In wet conditions they swell and lose shape, looking like a dollop of melting butter. When they begin to dry they become darker orange, more opaque, and smaller. In dry conditions they become dark orange, shriveled up, hard, and brittle. Sometimes they collapse into an inconspicuous film when they dry, but will revive with the next wet weather.

It is not edible. It is not poisonous but cooking it will release the water and leave little to eat.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Leafy Brain (Phaeotremella foliacea) forms a cluster of light to dark brown or purplish brown, leaf-like lobes.

Golden Ear (Tremella aurantia) lobes are thicker and have a dull, matte finish. They are not shiny. They do not shrivel when dried. Its host is Hairy Curtain Crust (Stereum hirsutum), a bracket fungus.

Orange Jelly Fungus (Dacrymyces palmatus) is slightly smaller and more orange. It is white at the base where it attaches to the wood. It grows only on conifers.

White Coral Jelly Fungus (Tremella reticulata) is white. Older specimens are clusters of finger-like branches. It tends to grow on the ground.

 
     
 
Habitat and Hosts
 
 

Logs, fallen or still attached but dead branches and twigs, with bark still attached.

Oaks and other hardwoods

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Season

 
 

Year-round, especially late fall, during prolonged wet periods

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30.

 
  11/13/2023      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Very common and widespread

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Fungi (fungi)  
  Subkingdom Dikarya  
  Phylum Basidiomycota (club fungi)  
  Subphylum Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)  
  Class Tremellomycetes  
 

Order

Tremellales  
 

Family

Tremellaceae  
 

Genus

Tremella  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Helvella mesenterica

Tremella lutescens

Tremella quercina

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Witches’ Butter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Parasitic

Obtaining nutrients from another living organism.

 
 
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Luciearl

 
    Witches’ Butter      
 

Heather Ellis

 
    Witches’ Butter   Witches’ Butter  
           
    Witches’ Butter      
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
 

 

 
           

 

Camera

     
 
Slideshows
 
  Witches Butter
Andree Reno Sanborn
 
  Witches Butter  
 
About

Witches Butter or Witches Jelly or Orange jelly

(Dacrymyces palmatus)

 
  Grzyby: Trzęsak pomarańczowożółty / Tremella mesenterica
MTMK: PhotoVideoTravel&Garden
 
   
 
About

Published on Feb 16, 2014

# Trzęsak pomarańczowożółty / kisielec pomarańczowy / galaretowiec kruszkowy / galaretowiec pospolity / móżdżak kruszkowy / trzęsidło pomarańczowe / trzęsak pomarańczowy / trzęsak złotożółty (łac. tremella mesenterica / hormomyces aurantiacus / tremella brasiliensis / tremella lutescens / tremella mesenterica var. lutescens), grzyb niejadalny

# Yellow Vrain / Golden Jelly Fungus / Yellow Trembler / Witches' Butter (l. Tremella Mesenterica / Hormomyces Aurantiacus / Tremella Brasiliensis / Tremella Lutescens / Tremella Mesenterica var. Lutescens), inedible fungus

# Warmia i Mazury, w pobliżu: jezioro Narie, Ostróda, Morąg, Kretowiny

# Music: Silent Partner - Every Step (Audio YouTube Library)

 

 

slideshow

       
 
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Other Videos
 
  Witch's Butter (Tremella mesenterica?) on Log
Carl Barrentine
 
   
 
About

Uploaded on Sep 11, 2010

Photographed at the Concordia Language Villages, Bemidji, Minnesota (08 September 2010). Go here to learn more about this jelly fungi: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tremella_mesenterica.html

   
  Witches Butter
wetvideocamera
 
   
 
About

Published on Jan 22, 2014

Tremella mesenterica - jelly-like fungus found on recently dead or decaying wood.

   
  Foraging the Forest: Jelly Fungi; Witches Butter
The Roaming Gnome...Glenn Munro
 
   
 
About

Published on May 26, 2015

   

 

Camcorder

 
 
Visitor Sightings
 
           
 

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  Luciearl
January 2024

Location: Cass County

Witches’ Butter  
  Heather Ellis
11/1/2015

Location: Remer Township, Cass County

Witches’ Butter  
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings
 
 

 

 

 

 

Binoculars


Created: 11/6/2015

Last Updated:

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