Ochre Jelly Club

Leotia lubrica produces fruit bodies which range from 1 to 6 centimetres (1⁄2 to 2+1⁄4 inches) in height. The youngest fruit bodies are conical in shape. When the body reaches around 2 millimetres (1⁄16 in) in length, the tip of the cone begins to expand, forming the head. This is the stage at which the hymenium becomes differentiated from the rest of the body, and the bodies quickly reach their mature form, maturing only through growth after that point. Each fruit body has a single fertile "head" measuring 1–3 cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄4 in) across, which is an olive-greenish ochre and gelatinous. To the touch, the surface of the head can be smooth, clammy or slimey. While in shape it is convex, the head is made up of irregular lobes and undulations, and the edge is rolled inward. The underside is paler in colour than the upper surface, and smooth. The head is attached to a central stalk, which ranges from 2–8 cm (3⁄4–3+1⁄8 in) and 3–10 mm (1⁄8–3⁄8 in) wide, though thinner toward the substrate. The stalk is typically cylindrical, but can be flattened, and occasionally has furrows. The colour is similar to that of the head, though more yellow, and the surface is covered in very small granules of a greenish colour. The flesh is gelatinous in the head, while the stalk is mostly hollow, but it can be filled with gel. It has no discernible smell or taste.

Microscopic features. L. …

Fruit bodies are typically encountered from late summer to late autumn in Europe, and from late spring to autumn in North America, where it is the most common Leotia species. It has also been recorded in eastern Asia, in China and Tibet, as well as in New Zealand and Australia. L. lubrica favours damp deciduous woodland, but can also be found under conifers. Particular favoured habitats include path sides and underneath bracken, while favoured substrates include soil, moss and plant waste. Fruit bodies are typically found growing in large numbers, sometimes in clumps, though solitary specimens are occasionally encountered. Several bodies can be connected at their bases, or younger bodies can grow out of the bases of older ones.

While it has been conventionally regarded as a saprotroph, molecular, isotopic and other lines of evidence have suggested that L. lubrica forms ectomycorrhizae. Fruit bodies can be infected by the mould Hypomyces leotiarum (asexual reproduction form of Hypomyces leotiicola).