Species details

Jelly baby

Leotia lubrica

Inedible

Description

A small yellow-orange to olive-greenish fungus with an irregular gelatinous cap-like head and slender stem.

Identification features

Head about 0.5–2 cm wide, irregularly rounded, lobed and waxy-gelatinous, yellowish to orange with possible olive tones. Stem 2–7 cm tall, ochre to yellow-orange and hollow in old specimens.

Identification checklist

Check the unusual soft gelatinous cap-like head without gills or pores, olive-yellow-orange colour and grouped growth on damp woodland soil.

How to separate similar species

Leotia atrovirens is more distinctly green. Cudonia circinans has a differently shaped flatter head and is deadly poisonous, so great caution is needed with similar gelatinous ascomycetes.

Habitat

Grows in summer and autumn on damp soil in deciduous, mixed and coniferous woodland among leaves and moss, mostly in groups.