On damp soil, in the deep shade of the forest, something small and yellow-green wobbles. The jelly baby is a small, gelatinous fungus with a yellow-green, rounded cap and a jelly-like, yellowish stalk. It looks like a small, wobbly baby – hence the name. Two to four centimetres tall. Soft to the touch. Almost cute, for a fungus. The cap is smooth and shiny when wet, shrinking to a wrinkled disc when dry. Then the rain returns and it rehydrates, expanding back to its full, wobbly self. Not dead. Just waiting for water. It grows on damp soil and moss in shaded forests, appearing in late autumn and winter. Common in native bush throughout New Zealand. Not rare. Not threatened. The whole fungus is soft and jelly-like to the touch. Squeeze it gently and it compresses, then slowly expands back to its original shape. A fungus with memory, or something that looks like memory. Not edible. Too small. Too insubstantial. Too wobbly. But cute, in a strange, fungal way. The Maori name is not recorded. Another small fungus, overlooked by the people who came before, noticed only by those who walk the forest floor with their eyes down. Photographers like it. The yellow-green stands out against the brown soil and green moss, and the wobbly shape rewards a macro lens and a steady hand. That is the jelly baby. Small, wobbly, yellow-green. A fungus that looks like a toy, feels like a jelly, and sits on the damp soil waiting for someone to notice it.