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TREMELLALES<br />
Gregarious on the ground in open woods. July-Oct.<br />
Although rather unattractive in appearance because of its dark colors,<br />
this is reported to be quite good as an edible fungus and it is unhkely to be<br />
confused with anything else. It has several common names such as horn of<br />
plenty, trumpet of death, and fairy's loving cup, indicating that it is a species<br />
that attracts attention. The name trumpet of death has no reference to its<br />
edible quaHties but only to its sombre appearance.<br />
TREMELLALES<br />
The Tremellales or jelly fungi can be recognized in the field by their more<br />
or less gelatinous or jelly-Hke consistency. They shrink greatly on drying and in<br />
dry weather are inconspicuous, but when moistened they swell up and are<br />
sometimes striking in appearance.<br />
The group is separated from the other basidiomycetes on a character that<br />
is considered to be more fundamental than their jelly-hke consistency, namely,<br />
the structure of the basidium. A typical basidium is one-celled with a septum<br />
at the base, but in the Tremellales the basidium itself becomes septate or<br />
deeply forked. The Tremellales are divided into three famihes, the Tremel-<br />
laceae in which the basidium is longitudinally or obhquely septate, the Auri-<br />
culariaceae in which it is transversely septate, and the Dacrymycetaceae in<br />
which it is forked and deeply divided. These characters can be determined<br />
only by microscopic examination so that for the amateur the consistency is the<br />
best field character, although there are some instances in which this character<br />
alone is misleading.<br />
Only four species are described here, two of the Tremellaceae, one of the<br />
Auriculariaceae, and one of the Dacrymycetaceae.<br />
PSEUDOHYDNUM GELATINOSUM (Fr.) Karst.<br />
Figure 366, page 255<br />
FRUITING BODY 1-2 {4 in. broad, gelatinous, translucent, whitish becoming<br />
brownish, rather thick, upper surface papillose, lower surface bearing whitish,<br />
gelatinous, tooth-like spines about J/g in. long, short stipitate or sessile, spores<br />
white, subglobose, 5-7 ^i.<br />
On rotten wood. Aug.-Sept.<br />
At first sight this might be taken for one of the Hydnaceae because of the<br />
teeth on the under side of the pileus, but the gelatinous consistency distin-<br />
guishes it and if examined microscopically the basidia are found to be divided<br />
longitudinally. It is not of interest as food but is a pretty and unusual fungus.<br />
It is likely to be found only in wet weather as it shrinks greatly and becomes<br />
very inconspicuous when dry.<br />
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