Thursday 21 March 2013

The Judas Ear

The seemingly never ending rain (and sometimes snow) has reduced the opportunities for a favourite of this blog - watching water voles.
But the dampness has produced other things of interest, such as this fungal fruiting body growing on a dead tree near Radley Lakes in North-East Abingdon.
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Before scientific classification it was known the Judas Ear - because it looks like an ear and because one it's preferred habitats is the elder - the tree from which it was believed Judas Iscariot hanged himself:
The common name was subsequently changed to the politically incorrect Jews Ear, which is reflected in it's scientific name: - Auricularia auricla-judae
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More recent field guides now refer to it by a more politically acceptable and probably more accurate name of Jelly Ear 
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Whatever the chosen name, it is an impressive sight, even if it is one of the most common fungi found in Britain.

4 comments:

  1. Martin Gulliver22 March 2013 at 07:08

    wow...what a weird looking thing!

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  2. Hi Martin,
    I find fungus utterly fascinating, but despite a couple of field guides they are very hard to identify, so it's good to find one that is so distinct that it is easily identified on sight.

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  3. Martin Gulliver23 March 2013 at 02:56

    Hi Richard,

    That one is certainly distinctive. I imagine I would have passed it by without realising what it was.

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  4. Very cool- Fungi are very underrated!

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