Identification: Strange Jelly Fungus

Discussion in 'Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds' started by kahoyjd, May 25, 2008.

  1. kahoyjd

    kahoyjd Member

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    Havre, Montana, US
    The attached appeared on our Juniper tree after a longer than usual series of rains. It is jelly like with fingers and is "sprouting" all over the tree. My husband knows something about mushrooms and edible fungus and says this is something he's never seen before...Any help would be appreciated. (P.S. this was discovered by our 3 year old who said that jelly fish fell out of the sky on our tree...as you can imagine, we were very curious to see what she found.)
     

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    kahoyjd, May 25, 2008
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  2. growing4it

    growing4it Active Member 10 Years

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    vancouver to langley, bc
    my first thought was Pear Trellis Rust. Here's an info sheet from British Columbia. Pear Trellis Rust is a fungus that lives on pear trees and on junipers.
     

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    growing4it, May 25, 2008
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  3. miss_myxomycete

    miss_myxomycete Active Member 10 Years

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    Rusts are dry & powdery, this looks like a jelly fungus. I remember how excited I was when I first came across Tremella mesenterica - yellow Brain Fungus - bright yellow jelly!! Lovely. This doesn't look like the T. mesenterica - wrong colour & has 'fingers'. I only have UK/Europe Fungi books with nothing in that resembles this jelly beastie. Intriguing...
     
    miss_myxomycete, May 26, 2008
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  4. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    A species of Gymnosporangium rust. Likely the one (G. fuscum) mentioned by Growing4it.
     
    Michael F, May 26, 2008
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  5. kahoyjd

    kahoyjd Member

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    I looked up the g. fuscum...pear trellis rust...and it looks right but ours has way more fingers sticking off than the specium I found on oregon state university....also every thing that I read says it a pacific northwest fungus...I'm inland on the semi-acrid prairie of Montana...any thoughts of whether this could still be it...and since we are having a wet spring that's why it suddenly showed it's jelly fingers....I'm new to this so help from the more experienced is appreciated.
     
    kahoyjd, May 26, 2008
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  6. miss_myxomycete

    miss_myxomycete Active Member 10 Years

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    Wow, this is fascinating!!! First I apologise to 'growing4it' as it looks like you're right with the i.d. Secondly, I rescind my ignorant comment about rust fungi which I honestly believed but had not checked out properly. There's a whole host (!) of interesting stuff on the web about rust fungi & Gymnosporangium species in particular e.g.

    http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/may99.html

    They have a very complex life-cycle which can include this jelly finger stage in wet weather. Amazing organisms.
    Apologies again, I shouldn't have jumped in so soon...
     
    miss_myxomycete, May 26, 2008
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  7. C.Wick

    C.Wick Active Member

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    C.Wick, May 27, 2008
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