Cloud ear fungus
| Cloud ear fungus—Auricularia polytricha | |
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| Cloud ear fungus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Heterobasidiomycetes |
| Order: | Auriculariales |
| Family: | Auriculariaceae |
| Genus: | Auricularia |
| Species: | A. polytricha |
| Binomial name | |
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Auricularia polytricha (Mont.) Sacc. |
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| Auricularia polytricha | |
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| Mycological characteristics | |
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smooth hymenium |
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no distinct cap |
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hymenium attachment is irregular or not applicable |
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lacks a stipe |
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spore print is white |
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ecology is saprotrophic |
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edibility: choice |
Cloud ear fungus (Auricularia polytricha, syn. Hirneola polytricha) is an edible jelly fungus. It grows on trees in mountainous regions, is gray-brown in color and is often used in Asian cooking, especially Chinese cuisine.
It is known as Mandarin Chinese: 云耳; pinyin: yún'ěr, lit. "cloud ear"), Chinese: 毛木耳; pinyin: máomù'ěr, lit. "hairy wood ear"), and in Japanese it is called ara-ge-ki-kurage (, lit. "rough-hair-tree-jellyfish"). It is also known as black fungus, black Chinese fungus (or mushroom), wood ear fungus, wood fungus, ear fungus, or tree ear fungus, an allusion to its rubbery ear-shaped growth. In Europe, it is frequently confused as "Jew's ear", and "Jelly ear", albeit they are very closely related. In Hawaii, they are known as pepeiao which means ear. In Southeast Asia, it is known as bok née in local English (from the Hokkien 木耳 bo̍k-ní) and is used in the salad kerabu bok nee. In Indonesia and Malaysia, they are called jamur kuping, meaning "the ear mushroom", and in the Philippines, the locals call it tenga ng daga, meaning "rat's ear", due to its appearance. In Chinese cooking, it is often referred to as "Black Treasure".
Fruit body resupinate or pileate, loosely attached, laterally and sometimes by a very short stalk, elastic, gelatinous; sterile surface dark yellowish brown to dark brown with greyish brown bands, hairy, silky. Hymenium smooth, or wrinkled, pale brown to dark brown to blackish brown with a whitish boom. Hairs thick-walled, up to 0.6 mm long. Basidia cylindrical, hyaline, three-septate, 46–60 × 4–5.5 μm with 1–3 lateral sterigmata; sterigmata 9–15 × 1.5–12 μm. spores, hyaline, reniform to allantoid, 13–16 × 4–5.5 μm, guttulate.
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