crystal brain or granular jelly roll

Description:

Myxarium nucleatum forms scattered, pustular, gelatinous fruit bodies 0.2 to 1 cm (0.1 to 0.4 in) in diameter. These often coalesce, forming compound fruit bodies that may be irregularly cerebriform (brain-like) and up to 6 cm (2.5 in) across. Fruit bodies are hyaline (colourless) to whitish, occasionally with lilac or pinkish tints. Opaque, white, spherical, mineral inclusions are often evident and are made of calcium oxalate. The spore-bearing surface (hymenium) is smooth. With age, the fruit bodies may become brownish and eventually dry to a thin, varnish-like film. The spore print is white. The fungus does not have any distinct taste or smell; it is inedible.

Habitat:

Myxarium nucleatum is often found in association with old pyrenomycetes, but is presumed to be a wood-rotting species, typically found on dead attached or fallen branches. It was originally recorded on hawthorn, but is also known from many other broadleaf trees and shrubs, including beech, ash, sycamore, and ivy. Myxarium nucleatum typically fruits in autumn and winter. It is widely distributed in Europe, North, Central and South America, and New Zealand. --The fruit bodies can serve as host to the auricularioid parasite Zygogloea gemellipara. This fungus grows thin thread-like hyphae—too small to be viewed with the naked eye—on the hymenium of its host. The hyphae of the parasite attach to the host hyphae through twisting, tendril-like haustorial cells

Notes:

Myxarium nucleatum (common names crystal brain or granular jelly roll) is a jelly fungus in the family Hyaloriaceae. The sporocarps (fruit bodies) are watery white and gelatinous with small, white, mineral inclusions. It is a common, wood-rotting species in Europe and North America, typically growing on dead attached or fallen branches of broadleaf trees