Guepinia Helvelloides

''Guepinia'' is a genus of fungus in the Auriculariales order. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species ''Guepinia helvelloides'', commonly known as the apricot jelly. The fungus produces salmon-pink, ear-shaped, gelatinous fruit bodies that grow solitarily or in small tufted groups on soil, usually associated with buried rotting wood. The fruit bodies are up to tall and up to wide; the stalks are not well-differentiated from the cap. It has a white spore deposit, and the oblong to ellipsoid spores measure 9–11 by 5–6 micrometers.

The fungus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, and has also been collected from South America. Although rubbery the flesh is edible, and may be eaten raw with salads, pickled, or candied.

Taxonomy

The species was first described and illustrated as ''Tremella rufa'' by Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin in 1778. Elias Magnus Fries later (1828) called it ''Guepinia helvelloides'' in his ''Elenchus Fungorum'', based on Augustin Pyramus de Candolle's ''Tremella helvelloides'', both being names he sanctioned. This has made ''Tremella rufa'' and all names based on it unavailable for use, as they are conserved. Later, Lucien Quélet erected a separate monotypic genus ''Phlogiotis'' for Jacquin's species, whereas Julius Oscar Brefeld placed it (as ''Gyrocephalus rufa'') in Persoon's small genus ''Gyrocephalus'' (rejected name for ''Gyromitra''). The proper name for the fungus was debated for some time, as the name ''Guepinia'' is a homonym (pointed out by Fries in 1828), because it had been used by Toussaint Bastard in 1812 for a genus of flowering plants in the Cruciferae family. To further complicate matters, the generic name ''Teesdalia'', originally considered to have priority over the name ''Guepinia'' for the plant genus, was later determined to have been validly published after ''Guepinia'', rendering ''Teesdalia'' an illegitimate name. In 1982, changes in the International Code for Botanical Nomenclature gave protected status to all names adopted by Fries in the ''Elenchus Fungorum'', and established ''Guepinia'' as the correct genus name.

''Guepinia'' is variously classified in the Auriculariales order, with uncertain familial position (''incertae sedis''), or as part of the Exidiaceae family.

The genus is named after French mycologist Jean-Pierre Guépin (1779–1858). The mushroom is commonly known as the "red jelly fungus", or "apricot jelly".

Description

The fruit bodies of ''Guepinia helvelloides'' grow singly or in small clumps. Although they can appear to be growing in the soil, their mycelium lives in buried wood. They are tall and wide, spoon- or tongue-shaped, and twisted like a cornet or horn so that they look like a slender funnel, cut out on one side and often with a wavy margin. The fruit bodies are flexible, thick, and smooth on the outer side which they are usually attenuated on the underside into a cylindrical or depressed stem that is up to high and about thick. The stem is normally covered with a white tomentum