Witch's Butter on the Central Coast of California

These notes arose from a thread between me and @yerbasanta. It seems correct. But let me know if you know otherwise. Note: There's a particular focus on Fort Ord, because that's where we live and work. Most of the information is from Desjardin et al. (2015).

There are at least three "Witch's Butter" fungi that occur on the Californian Central Coast. Distinguishing them visually is difficult, if not impossible. But they can be distinguished on the basis of where they grow.

1. Naematelia aurantia, syn. Tremella aurantia, "Witch's Butter", "Golden Ear" (sometimes incorrectly ID'ed as Tremella mesenterica). A mycoparasite on Stereum hirsutum fruitbodies, which in turn grow on hardwood branches.
2. Tremella mesenterica, "Witch's Butter". A mycoparasite on Peniophora, a crust fungus known as "Giraffe Spots". At the time of writing, Peniophora has not yet been observed on Fort Ord. But it has been observed nearby. (Stereum hirsutum on the other hand is very common on Fort Ord.)
3. Dacrymyces chrysospermus, syn. Dacrymyces palmatus, "Witch's Butter", "Orange Jelly Spot". A saprotroph mostly on conifer wood, and "seldom on hardwoods".

So the situation in our region would appear to be like this:

1. If it is on Stereum fruiting bodies, it's N. aurantia
2. If it's on Peniophora it's T. mesenterica. And note, although Peniophora is close by, it has not yet been observed on iNat on Fort Ord.
3. If it's on wood and the above two hosts are not evident, it's D. chrysospermus. Note that MykoWeb says that a field mark for D. chrysospermus is white attachment points. I haven't looked for these, yet...

Remaining uncertainty: we seem to have a lot of witch's butter on Fort Ord on various woody substrates that not are coniferous, and without Stereum or Peniophora. If these are all D. chrysospermus, then they all must be encompassed by Desjardin et al's note: "seldom on hardwoods". Hmmm...

References: Mostly from Desjardin et al. (2015).
Obs threads e.g.: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/146481455#activity_comment_e09477eb-4c03-444e-af1b-ddf95c997ee3

Publicado el 16 de enero de 2023 a las 01:58 AM por fredwatson