WHITE JELLY ROLL

WHITE JELLY ROLL

Ductifera pululahuana
JELLY FUNGI FAMILY (Tremellaceae)

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This gelatinous fungus appears on decomposing, moist hardwood logs, usually after the bark is gone. Individual white jelly-like lobes, up to an inch across, emerge from cracks in the logs to form dense clusters resembling exposed brains. It is irregularly shaped but often roughly fan shaped. It is stem less and its flesh is thick and gelatinous. It is whitish in color but as it ages it may discolor and become somewhat yellowish, brownish or even pinkish.

It is fairly common in the ravines or moist hollows of Fontenelle Forest during spring, especially after it has rained. It prefers the sides of large logs which have retained moisture, and those which are well on their way to be decomposed. It fruits on the decayed wood of hardwoods, and is apparently one of the later fungal species that line up to decompose dead wood when a tree falls, since it typically appears on well rotted logs after the bark has disappeared.

A synonym for this fungus is Exidia alba. It also goes by the names Pale Jelly Roll, snow fungus or White jelly fungus.

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