Species details
Leafy brain fungus
Phaeotremella foliacea
Inedible
Photo: Nativeplants garden · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A brown to violet-brown gelatinous fungus formed from numerous densely folded lobes on dead hardwood.
Identification features
The fruitbody is about 3–15 cm wide, stalkless and made of thin, strongly folded lobes. It is elastic and gelatinous when wet, shrinking and darkening when dry.
Identification checklist
Check for a large brown gelatinous mass made of numerous flat, densely folded lobes on hardwood.
How to separate similar species
Auricularia forms more separate ear-shaped fruitbodies. Phaeotremella frondosa can be very similar.
Habitat
Grows on dead trunks, branches and stumps of hardwoods, especially in summer and autumn.
Fruiting period
July, August, September, October, November