Jelly Rot

Habitat

Phlebia tremellosa is a widespread white-rot fungus that acts as a decomposer on rotting wood. It is most commonly found on the stumps, fallen logs, and downed branches of deciduous trees, particularly birch, beech, ash, maple, and alder. It also occurs less frequently on coniferous wood. It typically grows on the sides or undersides of logs and debris, often colonizing barkless wood in large, overlapping clusters or contiguous rows.

Photos

Appearance

Fruit body

Forms spreading, irregular patches or crusts that often bend away from the wood to create shelf-like brackets. These caps are typically 1–5 cm across, thin, flexible, and frequently fuse together in tiered, overlapping clusters or long rows.

Cap

Upper surface is white to pale yellowish or pinkish-white, with a densely hairy or woolly texture. The margin is often wavy, translucent, and covered in silky radiating fibers.

Fertile surface

Located on the underside, the color ranges from orange-buff and salmon-pink to dull pinkish-orange, sometimes aging to blood red. It is gelatinous and characterized by a network of wrinkles, folds, and radiating ridges that create a net-like or pore-like appearance.

Flesh

White to translucent; thin and watery with a gelatinous, rubbery, or cartilaginous consistency. It becomes hard and tough when dry.

Spore print

White.

Edibility

Generally considered inedible, this species has flesh that is gelatinous, rubbery, and thin, becoming hard when dried. It has an indistinct taste and a whitish to sausage-shaped pinkish-orange appearance that may be confused with Phlebia radiata, which typically lacks caps and is more brightly orange. Other lookalikes include Gelatoporia dichroa, which has distinct round pores and a drier texture, and Byssomerulius incarnatus, which features a pink upper surface.

Nutrient Source

It obtains nutrients by breaking down dead organic matter, primarily wood from deciduous hardwoods and sometimes conifers.

Common Names

Basque

mukiazal laranja

Danish

Bævrende åresvamp

Dutch

spekzwoerdzwam, Spekzwoerdzwam

English

Trembling Crust, Jelly Rot

Finnish

hytyrypykkä

French

Mérule tremblante

German

Gallertfleischiger Fältling

Norwegian Bokmål

gelénettsopp

Norwegian Nynorsk

gelénettsopp

Spanish

corteza gelatinosa naranja

Swedish

dallergröppa

Welsh

Jeli Gwrychog

Synonyms

• Merulius imbricatus
• Merulius tremellosus
• Merulius tremellosus — Trembling Crust
• Sesia tremellosa
• Xylomyzon tremellosum