warty jelly fungus

Description:

In a 150-year old treatise on English botany, (Sowerby et al., 1846, p. 225) it is mentioned that according to Dillenius, this species earned its common name "witches' butter" because it was believed to be useful against witchcraft when thrown into a fire. Fruiting body: wrinkled, gelatinous; beginning as a pallid or translucent blister but soon becoming cushion-shaped to irregularly lobed, appearing effused, undulate, brain-like in structure; usually dark black color, but sometimes reddish black to olive-black in younger specimens; 1-2 cm broad but often fusing with adjacent sporophores to form extensive patches; upper surface smooth to minutely roughened with scattered, erect, short spicules. Flesh: gelatinous, black. Taste, smell: indistinct. Spore print: whitish; the spores are borne on the lobes, warts or wrinkles. Spores: 10-16 x 3-5 µm, allantoid, smooth. Edibility: unclear (different opinions depending on the source). Habitat: found on dead wood of deciduous trees, especially birch, beech, alder, pine, hawthorn. It prefers cooler temperatures and is more likely to be found Sept to May. The fruiting body will dehydrate to form a thin membrane, but will rehydrate when moistened. The fruiting bodies are somewhat translucent when young and fresh. Lipid composition The lipid composition of E. glandulosa is 37.5% total lipids (mg/g dry weight). Of this total, 60.5% is neutral lipids, 35.8% is phospholipids and 3.7% glycolipids (Dembitsky et al., 1992). Further details about the particulars of lipid composition in this species can be found in that reference and in Demibitsky et al., 1993. Medicinal properties Antitumor effects Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of E. glandulosa and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 100% and 90%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973). ( http://healing-mushrooms.net/archives/ex... )

Habitat:

Exidia glandulosa is a wood-rotting species, typically found on dead attached branches of broadleaf trees, especially oak, occasionally hazel or beech. It is a pioneer species capable of colonizing living or recently dead wood. A study of the wood decay process in attached oak branches showed that E. glandulosa is a member of a community of eight basidiomycetous fungi consistently associated with the decay of dying branches on living trees. Specifically, its role is to disintegrate the tissue of the vascular cambium, which loosens the attached bark. It persists for some while on fallen branches and logs. Fruit bodies are normally produced in the autumn and winter. Its global distribution is uncertain because of confusion with E. nigricans, but it is present in Europe at least

Notes:

Fruiting Body: Individual fruiting bodies are 1-2 cm across, but are typically fused into large patches (often over 50 cm long); gelatinous; lobed and brainlike; reddish black to black; surface smooth or slightly rough. Odor and Taste: Not distinctive. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores 10-16 x 3-5 µ; sausage-shaped; smooth. Basidia longitudinally septate (cruciate), with sterigmata to 65 µ long. Clamp connections present. ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/exidia_gla... ) ---- Exidia glandulosa Fr. Black Jelly Roll, Witches’ Butter, Warziger Drüsling, Hexenbutter, Exidie glanduleuse, Kormos mirigygomba, Boszorkányvaj. Fruit body 2–6cm across, gelatinous, pendulous, disc-shaped at first and bearing tiny scattered warts, often becoming fused with adjacent fruit bodies, upper surface felty, black. Spores white, sausage-shaped, 10–16 x 4–5µ. Basidia resembling hot cross buns when viewed from above. Habitat on dead wood of deciduous trees; sometimes on dead parts of living trees. Season all year. Frequent. Not edible. Distribution, America and Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... ) ----- Exidia glandulosa is frequently confused with Exidia nigricans. The two are similar, but E. nigricans produces button-shaped fruit bodies in clusters that quickly become deformed and coalesce, forming an effused, lobed mass that can be 10 cm (3.9 in) or more across. The two species are indistinguishable microscopically, but DNA research indicates they are distinct. The closely related E. recisa has more erect fruit bodies without warts on the surface, lighter colors (ranging from yellowish brown to dark brown), and a small base. The ascomycete Bulgaria inquinans forms similar, rubbery-gelatinous, blackish fruit bodies on oak. Their upper surfaces are entirely smooth, however, and they produce copious black (not white) spore prints, often leaving a black stain if wiped with the hand