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A fungus - Exidia recisa

This species, which is one of the so-called jelly fungi, is widespread, but not common; most of the best-selling popular identification guides to fungi do not include it.

According to the book "Fungi of Switzerland - Volume 2" (Breitenbach and Kränzlin) it grows on "dead branches of Salix (willow) still attached to the tree ... on Populus (poplar) and Prunus ... also on Alnus (alder)". The fruiting bodies are found from autumn to spring, and the work just cited says: "whole fruiting body amber-coloured to dark red-brown, attached to the substrate by a short indistinct stalk". When dry, they become inconspicuous brownish patches; this photograph was taken on a very wet day, and the fruiting body is shown fully expanded.

A similar species, Exidia repanda, is paler in colour, and is even less common; distribution maps: Link (E. recisa) and Link (E. repanda). Both species are shown and described at Link (this page is auto-translated, slightly garbling some species names as a side-effect, but it has an option at the upper right to view the original undistorted French text); these species are also described in the book "Fungi without gills" (Ellis and Ellis).

For a selection of other Exidia species, see NS3983 : White Brain fungus (Exidia thuretiana), NS3878 : Crystal Brain Fungus (Exidia nucleata), and NS3878 : Witches' Butter (Exidia glandulosa).