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| Orange crispy, on a lichen-covered deciduous tree, Tyee Spit. |
I've walked past this tree dozens of times, and never noticed these before. They are quite noticeable, even from a distance.
I touched them; they're hard, dry, firmly attached to the tree. Not jelly-like at all. A dry witches butter. It had been a couple of days since it rained.
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| These two clumps are about an inch and a half across. |
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| These are much smaller. The front one looks like its pushing its way out from inside the bark. |
The fungus grows parasitically on the mycelium of wood-rotting corticioid fungi in the genus Peniophora. (Wikipedia)
The Peniophora are crust fungi that infect and decompose wood. Looking at photos, I realize that I've seen them without paying enough attention. So basically, the witches' butter is a parasite on a parasite.
So, naturalists observe, a fleaHas smaller fleas that on him prey;And these have smaller still to bite 'em,And so proceed ad infinitum.(Jonathan Swift, 1667 - 1745)
The texture reminds me of a black fungus popular in Chinese cuisine. It reminds me that mushrooms aren't the only edible fungus (though their potential for toxicity means experimentation is not a good idea)
ReplyDeleteThere's another fungus, too, called Black Witches' Butter. A different species, too small to be interesting as food, and of "dubious edibility", to boot. Exidia glandulosa. Not the one you are thinking of, obviously. I don't remember seeing it (the one you mention) in the market.
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