Dacrymyces cokeri McNabb 1973
Orange jelly fungus
Identification: This fungus inhabits dead pine trees whose bark has fallen away. It is shiny, bright yellow-orange, and lobed and convoluted, looking a bit like the surface of the brain. It dries to a reddish-orange or dark red-brown color, with a tough outer membrane. Fruiting bodies are ⅜–2 ⨉ ⅞″ (1–6 ⨉ 2.5 cm). Although Tremella aurantia and Tremella mesenterica appear similar, but they are more yellow in color, and they fruit on hardwood trees which still have their bark, rather than on dead conifers.
Edibility: Edible, but flavorless.
Online References:
8/1/2021 · Wilson’s Cove Trail, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 3 × 4½″ (7.9 × 11 cm) 
9/29/2012 · Franconia Falls Trail, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire · ≈ 1¼ × 1¼″ (3.7 × 3.5 cm) 
7/25/2013 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 4 × 3½″ (9.9 × 9.7 cm) 
8/4/2017 · Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 4″ (15 × 10 cm) 
11/20/2009 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
3/17/2016 · Kibby’s Climb, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 5 × 4″ (12 × 10 cm) 
11/1/2016 · Oak Hill, Littleton, Massachusetts 
9/29/2012 · Franconia Falls Trail, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire · ≈ 3½ × 4″ (9.2 × 11 cm) 
9/18/2016 · Barred Island Preserve, Deer Isle, Maine 
10/2/2010 · Raymondskill Falls, Delaware Water Gap National Recr, Pennsylvania · ≈ 3 × 2″ (7.4 × 5.7 cm) 
9/29/2012 · Franconia Falls Trail, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire · ≈ 1¼ × 1″ (3.3 × 3 cm) 
8/2/2008 · Flying Mountain, Bar Harbor, Maine · ≈ 1½ × 1″ (3.9 × 2.9 cm) ID is uncertain 
11/1/2016 · Oak Hill, Littleton, Massachusetts 
8/4/2017 · Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (18 × 12 cm) 
5/5/2016 · Wildflower Trail, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire 
11/20/2009 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 14 cm) ID is uncertain 
10/5/2012 · Willard Brook State Park, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 3 × 3″ (7.5 × 8.5 cm) 
9/27/2021 · Skolfield Shores Preserve, Harpswell, Maine 
| Roughly 75 people in North America are poisoned each year by mushrooms, often from eating a poisonous species that resembles an edible species. Though deaths are rare, there is no cure short of a liver transplant for severe poisoning. Don’t eat any mushroom unless you are absolutely certain of its identity! Please don’t trust the identifications on this site. We aren’t mushroom experts and we haven’t focused on safely identifying edible species. |
Dacrymyces cokeri description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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