Black Jelly Fungus

Description

• Jelly fungi may be white, orange, pink, black, rose or brown. They have no definitive shape and can be coiled, piled or otherwise lumped without a definite form. The main tissue is slimy, moist and rubbery. The spore-making structures on the tissue are called basidia and are walled or forked unlike other mushroom species. These fungi have the ability to withstand periods without rain by drying out. When the rains come again, they simply rehydrate and resume growing.

Environment

• In addition to growing on logs and stumps, the fungi can be found on windblown twigs and stems and on dead plant material still attached to the tree. They do not grow on live wood but decompose the dead material as Saprophytes. This is a group of mushrooms that consume dead matter. You can find the fungi in conifer or deciduous forests, under trees and attached to any dropped wood. The fungal fruit is most obvious in fall and produces spores at that time.

Uses

• Black jelly fungus, once dried, is used to flavor soup broth, can be re-hydrated in stir fries and many other dishes. It has also been used for centuries in China as a medicinal preparation, thought to cure hemorrhoids and strengthen the body. The Doctrine of Signatures was a commonly followed early medical theory in the 1800s which stated that any natural material shaped like a part of the human body could be used to cure that part. This meant the fungus was used to treat throat problems because it resembled the inside of the esophagus.

Varieties of Black Jelly Fungus

• The commonly eaten variety of black jelly fungus is the Auricularia or wood ear jelly fungus. There are also Bulgaria inquinans and Exidia glandulosa. The first is a cup-shaped jelly fungus and the second a brain-like fungi. Bulgaria may grow in clusters and has a shiny blackish-brown coloring. Exidia is reddish-black or olive-black, with a lobed or folded appearance. It may form a mass nearly 20 inches long while Bulgaria forms tiny cups under 2 inches in width.