Exidia glandulosa Fries
Syst. Mycol. 2: 224. 1822.

Common Name: Black Witch's Butter

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body 1-2 cm broad, irregularly convoluted to brain-like, often aggregated into masses up to 10-20 cm long and 3-5 cm broad; upper surface fertile, smooth to warted, olive-black to black; flesh gelatinous, soft, thin, in dry weather forming a black crust on the substrate; odor and taste mild.

• Spores

  Spores 10-15 x 4-5 µm, sausage-shaped, smooth, nonamyloid; spores whitish in deposit; basidia longitudinally septate.

• Habitat

  Solitary or in rows on hardwood branches; occasionally on branches of Monterey pine (Pinus radiata); fruiting from after the fall rains to late winter.

• Edibility

  Probably edible, but insignificant.

• Comments

  Exidia glandulosa is common in the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of California, but frequently overlooked because of its dark color. Fruitings can be solitary but more typically are in long rows or elongated masses.

• References

  Lowy, B. (1971). Flora Neotropica, Monograph No. 6, Tremellales. Hafner Publishing Company: New York, NY. 154 p.
  Martin, G.W. (1964). Revision of the North Central Tremellales. J. Cramer: Lehre. 122 p.
  McNabb, R.F.R. (1964). New Zealand Tremellales -- I. New Zeal. Journ. Bot. 2: 403-414.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Darvin DeShazer: Exidia glandulosa (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Exidia glandulosa (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Exidia glandulosa (CP)
  • Na grzyby! - Atlas polskich grzybów: Exidia glandulosa (D & CP)
  • Elias Fries' fungus plates: Exidia glandulosa (I)
  • George Barron's Fungi of Canada (East): Exidia glandulosa (D & CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Exidia glandulosa (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 672 (D & P)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 2): sp. 21 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 370 (D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 382 (D), plate 563 (CP)
  • Miller: sp. 381 (D)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)