36 Nebraskaland • August-September 2021
The Wonderfully
Named Jelly Fungi
Story and photos by Gerry Steinauer, Botanist
elly fungi have great names. Some
are delicious sounding: jelly drops,
orange jelly, golden jelly cone,
apricot jelly and black jelly roll. At
the other extreme, some are graveyard
spooky: willow brain, goblin ear, jelly
tongue, Judas' ear and, best of all,
witches' butter.
Growing in forests, the appearance
of these gelatinous mushrooms
ranges from blobs of jelly spilled onto
a decaying log, to ears sprouting from
a tree trunk, to globs of brain tissue
smeared on a branch.
Like other mushrooms, jelly fungi
consist mainly of masses of extremely
thin strands, called hyphae, that spread
unseen through wood and function
to digest and absorb nutrients. Their
spore-producing fruiting bodies, the
mushroom, are the gelatinous blobs.
Jelly fungi are not all closely related,
as the gelatinous form has evolved
separately in several mushroom
families. Whereas typical mushrooms
have rigid cell walls, those of the jelly
fungi are extremely fl exible. When
moisture is present, such as during
rainy spells, this fl exibility allows the
cells to swell with water and expand
and the mushroom to produce spores.
During dry conditions, the cells
contract to extremely thin, fi rm
sheets, and the jelly fungi shrink into
a dormant state. They can swell and
shrink several times during a growing
season. Whereas typical mushrooms
fruit only once a year, the jelly fungi's
unique cells allow them to swell and
produce spores several times a year,
a great adaptation in periodically dry
habitats.
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Whereas other jelly fungi are laden with interesting common names, the poor, neglected Dacryopinax elegans, as far as I can
tell, has no common name. Collectively, members of the genus Dacryopinax are known as fan-shaped jelly fungi, and that
name will have to suffi ce for this tough, yet gelatinous mushroom. Common in North America from the Great Plains eastward,
the mushroom's spores develop on the shiny, bald inside surface of the fan-shape, while the fuzzy outer surface is sterile.
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