Wood Ear

Auricularia americana

Edible

Also called tree ear, jelly ear.

Wood ear is a brown, rubbery jelly fungus shaped like a human ear. It grows on dead wood in wet weather, shrinks when dry and revives after rain. Related Asian wood ears are a common ingredient in Chinese cooking.

Brown, ear-shaped wood ear fungi with wavy, rubbery lobes growing on a weathered log

The tell

A rubbery, brown, ear-shaped jelly fungus on dead wood, finely hairy on the back.

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
Ear- to cup-shaped, lobed and often veined, brown to reddish brown and somewhat translucent. The upper or outer surface is finely hairy; the inner surface is smooth and shiny.
Underside
No gills or pores. Spores form on the smooth surface.
Stem
None, or a very short point where it attaches to the wood.
Flesh
Thin, rubbery and gelatinous, becoming hard and brittle when dry.
Spore print
White.
Size
1 to 6 inches (2.5 to 15 cm) across.

Where and when

Where and when it grows

Habitat
Forests and woodlots, on fallen logs, stumps and dead branches.
Grows on
Dead wood. Auricularia americana grows mainly on conifers; its hardwood relative is Auricularia angiospermarum.
Season
Spring through fall in wet weather; year-round in mild climates.
Range
Across North America.

Lookalikes

What the wood ear gets confused with

Each card says how to tell the two apart.

  1. Amber jelly roll (Exidia recisa)

    Smaller, amber to orange-brown and more translucent, with a smooth back rather than a hairy one. Grows on willow and other hardwoods.

  2. Brown cup fungi (Peziza)

    Brittle and fragile rather than rubbery, and usually on soil or very rotten wood.

Edibility

What the field guides say

Edible

Field guides list wood ear as edible, valued for its crunchy texture rather than flavor. Cultivated Asian species of Auricularia are sold dried as wood ear or cloud ear in grocery stores. Auricularia americana was separated from the Eurasian Auricularia auricula-judae by DNA study.

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 wood ear

Is wood ear mushroom edible?

Field guides list it as edible. Related wood ears are cultivated in Asia and sold dried for soups and stir-fries, valued for texture more than taste.

What does wood ear look like?

A brown, rubbery, ear-shaped fungus on dead wood, with a finely hairy back and a smooth, shiny inner side. It shrivels when dry and swells again after rain.

Where does wood ear grow?

On dead logs, stumps and branches across North America. Auricularia americana grows mostly on conifers, and a close relative grows on hardwoods.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  1. Auricularia americana

    MushroomExpert.com

  2. Auricularia americana

    MykoWeb, California Fungi

  3. Auricularia americana

    Index Fungorum

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