''Calocera cornea'' is a jelly fungus that grows on decaying wood. It is a member of the

Dacrymycetales The Dacrymycetes are a class of fungi in the Basidiomycota. The class currently contains the single order Dacrymycetales, with a second proposed order Unilacrymales now treated at the family level. The order contains four families and has a cosmo ...

, an order of fungi characterized by their unique "tuning fork"

basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...

. Its yellow, finger-like, tapering

basidiocarp In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do no ...

s are somewhat gelatinous in texture. In typical specimens the basidiocarps become up to 3 mm in diameter, and 2 cm in height. The

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others so ...

covers the sides of the basidiocarps, each basidium producing and forcibly discharging only two

basidiospore A basidiospore is a reproductive spore produced by Basidiomycete fungi, a grouping that includes mushrooms, shelf fungi, rusts, and smuts. Basidiospores typically each contain one haploid nucleus that is the product of meiosis, and they are ...

s. It is inedible. ''

Calocera viscosa ''Calocera viscosa'', commonly known as the yellow stagshorn, is a jelly fungus, a member of the Dacrymycetales, an order of fungi characterized by their unique "tuning fork" basidia. It has bright orange, yellow or occasionally white branch ...

'' is related.

References

External links

Friday Fellow: Club-like Tuning Fork
at Earthling Nature.

Dacrymycetes Fungi of Europe Fungi described in 1783 Inedible fungi Taxa named by August Batsch Fungi of North America {{Basidiomycota-stub

References

Further reading

External links