Edible, tasteless
Orange Peel Fungus
Aleuria aurantia
A brittle orange cup on bare soil, not a soft jelly on wood.
Witches' Butter
Tremella mesenterica
Edible, tasteless
Also called yellow brain, golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler.
Witches' butter is a bright yellow to orange jelly fungus with lobed, brain-like folds. It appears on dead hardwood branches after rain, dries to a thin orange crust and swells again when wet. It lives as a parasite on crust fungi in the wood.
The tell
A bright yellow to orange, wobbly, brain-like jelly on dead hardwood branches.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- No cap. A gelatinous mass of folded, brain-like or wavy lobes, bright golden yellow to orange, shiny and wobbly when wet.
- Underside
- None. Spores form across the whole surface.
- Stem
- None. Attached to the wood at a point or along a crack in the bark.
- Flesh
- Gelatinous and translucent, drying hard and orange, and reviving when wet.
- Spore print
- White to pale yellowish.
- Size
- 1 to 4 inches (2.5 to 10 cm) across.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Forests, woodlots and yards, on dead branches still attached to trees or recently fallen.
- Grows on
- Dead hardwood, where it parasitizes crust fungi of the genus Peniophora.
- Season
- Year-round in wet weather, most noticeable in cool, rainy months; winter in California.
- Range
- Across North America.
Lookalikes
What the witches' butter gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Orange jelly spot (Dacrymyces chrysospermus)
Grows on conifer wood, not hardwood, and has a whitish point of attachment. It is firmer and more orange.
Golden ear (Naematelia aurantia)
Grows on hardwood as a parasite of Stereum crust fungi, often with the host visible beside it, and has a firmer, whitish core.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible, tasteless
Field guides list witches' butter as edible but nearly tasteless, valued only for texture. Related Tremella species are cultivated in Asia and used in soups and desserts. It is not known to be toxic.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the witches' butter
Is witches' butter edible?
Field guides list it as edible but without flavor. Related jelly fungi in the genus Tremella are used in Asian soups and desserts.
Why is it called witches' butter?
In European folklore, the yellow jelly appearing on gates and fences was blamed on witches. The name is now used for several yellow and orange jelly fungi.
Where does witches' butter grow?
On dead hardwood branches, often still attached to the tree, across North America. It appears after rain at any time of year and is most noticeable in cool, wet months.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Tremella mesenterica
MushroomExpert.com
- Tremella mesenterica
Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)
- Witches' Butter
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Tremella mesenterica
Index Fungorum
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