Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum

Day 66: Cat owners will understand one of the common names of Pseudohydnum gelatinosum ssp pusillum: Cat's Tongue Fungus. It is also known as Jelly-Tooth, Toothed Jelly Fungus, or rarely, False Hedgehog, and can be found on decaying wood at any time of year, but primarily during late autumn and winter. It can be ghostly white when young, and ages to tan. It is the only "toothed jelly" occurring in North America. It is translucent like a gumdrop, and in fact can be candied! It may also be eaten raw or cooked, but thank you, I'd rather admire them in nature. In any event, you are never likely to find them in quantity. This was one of the largest colonies I have ever found.

'Shroom-Sicle

Day 122: Had it not been for a little ray of sunshine, I might have missed this. In fact, I did miss it on the first pass, although the fact that I chose to walk around the right side of the tree instead of the left when the trail gave me both options might have been responsible for the oversight. On my way back from Big Bridge, a fine needle of sunlight angled through the quilted overstory of hemlock and Douglas-fir to center like a searchlight's beam directly on this ice-encrusted specimen of Pseudohydnum gelatinosum (commonly known as Cat's-tongue). My camera battery was almost dead and I knew I had less than a minute to capture its frosty beauty before the fragment of sunlight disappeared, so I dropped to my knees in the mud even as I was changing settings. How I had managed to be in the forest with both camera batteries in terminal condition is another matter: a banana peel on the path of my attention to small details like recharging, and the unavoidability of Murphy's Law. In any event, I got half a dozen snaps before losing the light, and figured wet, dirty pantlegs were worth the sacrifice if even one of the shots turned out. As I stepped around the tree in the middle of the trail, I found another older, browner specimen also encased in ice, and a question rose in the back of my mind when I noticed that the shelf fungus adjacent to it was not icy, nor was the moss or any of the other vegetation in the area. What conditions prevailed that only Pseudohydnum gelatinosum turned into a popsicle? Why?

Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum

Day 91: Whenever I write about fungi in my weekly column on the Park's Facebook account, I can pretty much bet that one of the first ten comments will be a question about edibility. As many times as I have explained that there is a vast difference between "edible" and "desirable as food," and talked about how certain mushroom species can confused with others which are potentially harmful, that same question always crops up: "Can I eat them?" Okay, here's one you can try.

Pseudohydnum gelatinosum is sometimes referred to as a "toothed fungus." This is not accurate. Although it has toothlike structures on the lower surface, it is in fact a jelly fungus. It is sometimes called "Cat's-tongue," a logical common name. Any cat owner can vouch for the visual similarity, but its resemblance to that organ stops there. The spines are soft and the fungus has the texture of a slightly soggy gumdrop. These features plus its pleasing translucence make it easy to identify and, if you're feeling adventurous, you can find recipes for candied Cat's-tongue on line. Raw, its taste is said to be somewhat less interesting than that of a wad of cold unflavoured gelatin. Somehow, I don't quite believe that candying would be much of an improvement.