Something to brighten up a miserable afternoon

I was working at the nature reserve this morning, cutting Hazel coppice. By the time I stopped and allowed myself a walk to seek out subjects to photograph the weather had worsened and yet more rain was falling. It was really miserable until I spotted a bright yellow something in a pile of rotting tree branches. On closer inspection it was the wonderful fungus we called Yellow Jelly as children. For a long time now the accepted common name has been Yellow Brain due to the irregular folds and floppy lobes making up a brain-like blob. It is actually Tremella mesenterica, surprisingly a parasitic fungus. Although it looks as though it is growing out of this dead Hazel branch it is actually growing on the other, less conspicuous crust fungus that covers the branch, Peniophora cinerea. Such are the wonders of the world of fungi.

Comments New comments are not currently accepted on this journal.