Gelatinous pseudo-beetle (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Auriculariomycetidae
- Order: Auriculariales (Auriculariales)
- Family: Exidia (Exidiaceae)
- Genus: Pseudohydnum (Pseudohydnum)
- Species: Pseudohydnum gelatinosum (Pseudo-beetle gelatinous (False beetle))
- Other names for the mushroom:
- Pseudo-dog
Synonyms:
Pseudochidium gelatinous
Ice mushroom
False jockey
Pseudo-dog
Pseudo-guide
Fruit body: the body of the fungus is leaf-shaped or tongue-shaped. The stem, which is usually located eccentrically, smoothly merges into a cap with a width of two to five cm. The surface is whitish-gray or brown in color, can vary significantly depending on the degree of saturation with water.
Flesh: jelly-like, gelatinous, soft, but retains its shape. Semi-transparent, in grayish-brownish tones.
Odor and taste : Does not have a particularly pronounced taste and smell.
Hymenophore: descending on the peduncle, spiny, light gray or white in color.
Spore powder: white.
Distribution: Pseudohydnum gelatinosum is not common. Fruiting from late summer until the first cold weather. It grows in forests of various types, prefers the remains of deciduous, but more often coniferous trees.
Similarity: The gelatinous pseudo-jelly is the only mushroom that has both a gelatinous pulp and a spiny hymenophore. It can only be mistaken for some other form of hedgehogs.
Edible: All available sources describe Pseudo-Jelly Bean as a mushroom, usable, however, it is called completely useless from a culinary point of view. In any case, it is quite rare and its gastronomic prospects are not very great.
Notes: You can call the Jelly-like Pseudojaw a unique species, since it exists almost everywhere at the same time and is not found almost anywhere. Any good paper guide has information on Pseudohydnum gelatinosum, it is found in America, Australia, and Northern Europe. But you can see it only somewhere in the Vladimir or Ivanovo regions. There in the forest you can find stumps densely overgrown with mushroom ears.
Photos used in the article: Oksana, Maria.