In so doing, Fries sanctioned the name, meaning that the species epithet "auricula-judae" takes priority over Linnaeus's earlier "auricula".

[3] The name was criticised by the American mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd, who said "Auricularia auricula-Judae is cumbersome and in addition is a slander on the Jews".

[4] Though critical of Lucien Marcus Underwood, saying he "would probably not have known the Jew's ear from the calves' liver", he followed him in using Auricularia auricula, which was in turn used by the American mycologist Bernard Lowy in his monograph on the genus.

[4] Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has, however, shown that Auricularia auricula-judae as previously understood comprises at least seven different species worldwide.

The commercially cultivated Chinese and East Asian species, still frequently marketed and described as A. auricula-judae or A. auricula, is Auricularia heimuer (black wood ear).

[8] The fungus is associated with Judas Iscariot because of the belief that he hanged himself on an elder tree after his betrayal of Jesus Christ.

[3] Common names for the fungus which refer to Judas can be traced back to at least the end of the 16th century;[11] for instance, in the 17th century, Thomas Browne wrote of the species: In Jews' ears something is conceived extraordinary from the name, which is in propriety but fungus sambucinus, or an excrescence about the roots of elder, and concerneth not the nation of the Jews, but Judas Iscariot, upon a conceit he hanged on this tree; and is become a famous medicine in quinsies, sore throats, and strangulations, ever since.

[17] The upper surface is a reddish-tan-brown with a purplish tint and finely pilose (covered in tiny, grey, downy hairs).

[17] The under surface is a lighter grey-brown and smooth, sometimes folded or wrinkled, and may have "veins", making it appear even more ear-like.

[7] Auricularia auricula-judae grows on the wood of deciduous trees and shrubs, particularly Sambucus nigra (elder).

Even when they have lost some 90% of their weight through dehydration, the bodies continue to release a small number of spores.

[25] A 100 g (3.5 oz) reference serving of dried fungus provides 1,500 kilojoules (370 kilocalories) of food energy, 10.6 g of protein, 0.2 g of fat, 65 g of carbohydrate, 5.8 g ash, and 0.03% mg of carotene.

[26][27] Dried specimens may be ground up into a powder and used to absorb excess liquid in soups and stews, as it rehydrates into tiny fragments.

He recommends the preparation of a liquid extract by boiling the fruit bodies in milk, or else leaving them steeped in beer, which would then be sipped slowly in order to cure a sore throat.

[3] There are recorded medicinal usages from Scotland, where it was again used as a gargle for sore throats, and from Ireland, where, in an attempt to cure jaundice, it was boiled in milk.

[15] The medicinal use of A. auricula-judae continued until at least 1860, when it was still sold at Covent Garden; at the time, it was not considered edible in the United Kingdom.

[3] The species is referred to in Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta, where Ithamore proclaims: "The hat he wears, Judas left under the elder when he hanged himself".

Dickinson had both a religious and naturalistic background, and so it is more than likely that she knew of the common name of A. auricula-judae, and of the folklore surrounding Judas's suicide.