Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
With a name like that, it would be hard to persuade anyone to take a second look. Still, look I did, but from afar at first. However, its bright florescent color jumped out and enticed me to take a closer look at what resided in a neighbor’s yard. It goes by the common name of Yellow Brain Fungus, as well as Golden Jelly Fungus, Yellow Trembler, and Witches’ Butter; all adequate names to describe Tremella mesenterica. Lest we think impressionable commoners got carried away with naming these fungi, their scientific name, taken from the Greek, literally means “like the middle intestine”. Not necessarily an improvement over the more commonly used names. This species is most frequently found growing on dead wood and the yellow-orange fruit appears shortly after it rains. Following the rainy season, it dries up into a shriveled mass, but it is capable of returning to its former glory should it rain again.
Perhaps you’ve never encountered this forest resident, but if so, it’s not because it isn’t present, for its distribution is cosmopolitan in nature. Besides living in North America, it is also found in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America. While some insist it is edible, even the most positive reports concede it is rather bland and flavorless. I confess I was not tempted to try it, but was content with enjoying its brilliant colors.
While some might find it repulsive, it also possesses a hidden beauty, not unlike that which the prophet Isaiah spoke about: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem… Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; and by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:2-3, 10-11 NIV) Aren’t you glad you took that second look?