Tremella versicolor

Fruit bodies are gelatinous, orange-red to brownish red, initially up to 2.5 mm across, and discoid to pustular. Eventually they coalesce and become effused cerebriform (brain-like), up to 50 mm across. Microscopically, the hyphae have clamp connections and the basidia are tremelloid (ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 2 to 4-celled, 14 to 30 by 8 to 11 μm. Sterigmata and basidiospores are not formed in the initial, discoid to pustular stage; instead, clusters of small, ellipsoid conidiospores are released, typically with a thin wisp of ribbon-like hypha still attached. In the effused, cerebriform stage, smooth, globose to subglobose basidiospores are produced measuring 5.5 to 8 by 7.5 to 10 μm.

Tremella versicolor is a parasite on basidiocarps of the lignicolous, corticioid genus Peniophora, including Peniophora lycii, P. cinerea, P. quercina, P. nuda, P. violaceolivida, P. reidii, and P. incarnata. The hosts typically grow on dead, attached or recently fallen branches of deciduous trees. The species was originally described from England and has been recorded in Europe from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Northern Ireland. Old reports from Sweden refer to Tremella subencephala. Tremella versicolor has also been reported from the USA.

== References ==