Also known as Golden Jelly, Witches Butter or Yellow Trembler is a jelly fungus (helpfully named because they look like jelly, not because they taste like jelly!). It appears from underneath the bark of its host tree during wet weather, during dry spells it shrivels into a hard to spot thin rubbery patch. Although it looks as though this fungus is feeding on the wood, it is actually a parasitic fungus feeding on another unrelated fungus, which is feeding on the dead wood. According to legend, if yellow brain fungus appeared on the gate or door of a house it meant that a witch had cast a spell on the family living there, the only way the spell could be removed was by piercing the fungus several times with straight pins until it went away, this is how yellow brain also gained the other common name of 'witches’ butter’.
By River Six
Photos by River Six