A brown, gelatinous jelly fungus made of crowded, wavy, leaf- or seaweed-like lobes, found on dead conifer branches. It is a parasite of the crust fungus Stereum sanguinolentum, growing on the host's hyphae inside the wood rather than decaying the wood itself. Molecular work moved it from Tremella to Phaeotremella, and the old broad species has been split, with broadleaf-wood collections now placed in P. frondosa and P. fimbriata.
Appears to be non-toxic but is flavorless and mostly water (Wikipedia); some authorities call it edible but very poor, with no culinary value (First Nature). Not a food species.
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On dead attached or recently fallen conifer branches, parasitic on Stereum sanguinolentum (the host may be inconspicuous). Similar jelly fungi on broadleaf wood are the segregates P. frondosa (on Stereum hirsutum and other Stereum species) and P. fimbriata (on Stereum rugosum).
Distribution
North America, Europe and northern Asia, widespread in northern temperate regions (Wikipedia). Older records under the broad name include the segregates; P. frondosa is common and widespread on broadleaf wood, and North American atlases such as Maryland's list it separately.
Characteristics
Fruiting body: a cluster of thin, wavy, leaf-like gelatinous lobes, about 2-20 cm across; reddish brown to pale pinkish brown or dark brown, drying dark and shriveled. Hymenium: on the lobe surfaces. Spore print: white. Spores: 6.5-10 x 4.5-8 um, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, smooth (First Nature).
