The Awesome Golden Jelly Cone!

[best appreciated at full size against black]

About a month ago, I was up on our ridge line, crawling around through the fallen-down manzanitas and oaks, looking for mushrooms, lichen and fungus. Suddenly I spotted a small Orange Jelly growing on a branch and went over for a better look. Then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and said out-loud, "WOW! LOOK AT THAT!!" This odd-lookiing fungus was unlike any Orange Jelly I'd ever seen. I wondered what it could be. Though it was growing right next to the Orange Jelly, it obviously wasn't the same. After some research, I discovered that it's called "Heterotextus alpinus", or Golden Jelly Cone fungus. It's not as common as Orange Jelly fungus but can be found on dead conifer logs, branches and stumps. Like Orange Jelly, when mature, they produce spores all over their surface much like the gills of mushrooms. I really like their geometric shape! :)

This image was taken in March, 2012.