Exidia cartilage (Exidia cartilaginea)
- Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Auriculariomycetidae
- Order: Auriculariales (Auriculariales)
- Family: Exidiaceae (Exidiaceae)
- Genus: Exidia (Exidia)
- Type: Exidia cartilaginea (Cartilaginous Exidia)
Current name: Exidia cartilaginea S. Lundell & Neuhoff
Fruit body: At first transparent, light yellow rounded, then the fruiting bodies merge and become tuberculate with an uneven surface, light brown or brown, darker in the center. They reach a size of 12-20 cm. Short white cilia grow along the edges of the fruiting body, which are often bent. When dry, they become hard and shiny.
Pulp: whitish, brownish, gelatinous, later cartilaginous.
spore powder: white.
Споры elongated 9-14 x 3-5 microns.
Taste: slight or slightly sweetish.
Smell: neutral.
The mushroom is inedible, but not poisonous.
Grows on the bark and branches of deciduous trees. I found it exclusively on linden, but also loves birch.
Europe, Asia, North America. It’s pretty rare everywhere.
I got it both in spring and autumn.
Exsidia vesicular (Myxarium nucleatum),
Exidia blooming (Exidia repanda),
Craterocolla cherry (Craterocolla cerasi),
some types of dacrimyceses.
The main difference between cartilaginous exsidia: light edges with white cilia.