An old wife's tale.

This afternoon I found these pats of witch's butter on the branches of some old gorse plants on the edge of the village. According to legend, the appearance of witch's butter on the gate or door of one's home shows that the house, and family within, have been targeted by the spell of a witch. The only possible way to remove the evil spell is to pierce the butter with some sharp implement until it dies.


Before anybody starts a witch hunt I ought to point out that witch's butter is in reality a common jelly fungus Tremella mesenterica, the yellow brain fungus, a.k.a. the golden jelly fungus, the yellow trembler, and witches' butter. Although it looks a little like a brain its scientific name translates as "trembling intestine"

Often found on dead wood, often on gorse, Tremella is itself a parasite of other wood decaying fungi, particularly those of the genus Peniophora.