Calocera viscosa
Calocera viscosa is a species of fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. In the United Kingdom, it has the recommended English name of yellow stagshorn. In North America it is variously called coral jelly fungus, jelly staghorn, yellow false coral, yellow tuning fork, and jelly antler.
The basidiocarps are small, gelatinous, bright golden yellow, and branched. Calocera viscosa grows on logs and dead wood of conifers. It is a common species throughout Europe and has also been recorded from North America, Asia, and Australia.
Taxonomy
The species was originally described as Clavaria aurea by the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt in 1793, but the name is illegitimate since it had already been used for a different species. The species was legitimately described as Clavaria viscosa from Germany in 1794 by South African-born mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. It was transferred to the genus Calocera by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1827.A white fungus from Italy was described as Calocera cavarae in 1896, but later studies suggested that this was only an aberrant form of C. viscosa lacking yellow pigments.
Description
Calocera viscosa forms bright golden to orange-yellow, firmly gelatinous fruit bodies up to tall, with a paler stem and coral-like branches.The fruit bodies are too slight to be of culinary interest.