330. Orange Jelly

The best part about these brilliant gushy looking fungi is that add a much needed splash of colour midwinter. Dacrymyces chrysospermus (syn. D. palmatus) is common on conifers and often is found on rotting wood. They are generally about two to three centimetres across and have as one key refers to the orange blobs, "brain-shaped or coralloid lobes". These fungi can dehydrate to an inconspicuous little dark may and then rehydrate when there is enough moisture to do so. This can happen repeatedly.  Orange Jellies occur over much of North and Central America and across Europe. 

The somewhat similar Witches Butter (Tremella mesenterica) is found on hardwood and has other structural differences.  When you are looking for keys to our west coast fungi, do head to the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society website. The jelly key is here. Or more precisely the Trial Field Key to the Pileate Jelly Fungi in the Pacific Northwest by Ian Gibson.