Witch it mushrooms
The picture on the upper left shows a side view of a basidium with sterigmata- you can also see one of the vertical septum. When the basidia mature, four elongate sterigmata form to bear the spores (upper right), but the cross can still be seen (or at least imagined.). The basidium to the far left in that panel shows the septa particularly well. "Cruciate" means in the shape of a cross (from the same root word as crucify), and this can most easily be seen looking at the tops of the immature basidia on the lower left panel of the picture. Tremella mesenterica and other members of the Tremellales have vertically septate or cruciate septate basidia, depending on what angle you look at them. Most mushrooms that you are familiar with have basidia that are not septate (holobasidia- holo means whole or entire). All unusual types of basidia the Tremellales have vertically septate basidia, the Auriculariales have transversely septate basidia (these are both types of phragmobasidia- phragmo means fragmented) and the Dacrymycetales have tuning fork basidia. The jelly fungi are found in three orders: the Tremellales, Auriculariales and the Dacrymycetales. All of the jelly fungi are members of the Basidiomycota, although there are also jelly-like Ascomycota, so you'll have to check microscopically to be sure sometimes. There are a number of these jelly fungi, many of which have the texture of a Gummi Bear TM. Tremella mesenterica is not your typical looking mushroom, but appears rather like someone stuck a spoon into a jar of orange marmalade and splattered it across a log. I'm guessing the witch's butter hex is probably not a true story, but I'm not taking any chances. Why the curious name for such an innocuous-looking fungus? Well according to some eastern European legends, this fungus appears on your gate or on the entrance to your house when you have been put under a spell by a witch! The only way to get rid of the hex is to prick the witch's butter with straight pins, which makes the inner juices of the fruiting body leak out, killing the fungus, thus allowing you to live your life witch-free once again. It's Halloween month again! If you've been following my web pages, you know that for previous Octobers' Fungus of the Month features I've had Omphalotus olearius (the Jack-O-Lantern mushroom) and Claviceps purpurea (cause of ergotism- and likely contributor to the Salem Witch Trials), so the next fun choice for this October's fungus is the jelly fungus Tremella mesenterica, better known as witch's butter. Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for October 2000 This month's fungus is Tremella mesenterica, witch's butterįor the rest of my pages on fungi, please click