#spring fungi

[briargeese]

Tiny Bird Nest fungi with new babies inside.

[cedar-glade]

Sarcoscypha austriaca,

eastern white and red elves cup fungi

Up until recently, I just assumed that every red elves cup fungi that I came across in the united states was the same species with different forms, this is not the case however; there are three close look-a-likes within’ the United States and usually everyone Ids them under one species, Sarcoscypha coccinea. S. coccinea is actually a species only found within’ the temperate forests of the Pacific Northwest during spring time and is distinct from the other two species of red elf cup fungi,S. dudleyi and S. austriaca, of the eastern portion of North America and the midwest. The Identification key for separating the two eastern species out requires you to either have a clear non damaged specimen and a hand lense to look at pour space or a microscope to view spores and growth patterns in hyphae.  I found this example two years ago about this same time of year and only recently was I able to get any second opinions on a real ID because I had to go back and find more examples. 

Photographed by the parking lot at the beginning of Clifton Gorge, Clifton, Ohio.