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Tag Archives: Elfcups

A green result

30 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by sconzani in fungi

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British fungi, elfcup fungi, Elfcups, Green elfcup, green stain on wood

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? A couple of months ago I found this small bit of wood with tell-tale green colouring so secreted it in a damp place in the woodland.

210730 green elfcup (1)

When I checked it yesterday, result! These are Green elfcups, still tiny but hopefully there will be more next time I look as they usually fruit in the autumn.

210730 green elfcup (2)

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Elvish beauty

09 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British fungi, Elfcups, fungi, red elfcups, Ruby elfcup, Scarlet elfcup, woodland fungi

As I walked through a local woodland yesterday, in light sleet and a biting wind, I was seduced by these gorgeous elfcups, punctuating the dull greens and dirty browns with their glorious pops of bright red.

210209 red elfcups (1)

And there were lots of them: tucked under draping fern fronds, nestled amongst lush mosses, almost every rotting log and every broken branch had its cup of scarlet (or ruby) red.

210209 red elfcups (2)

I’m not sure if anyone has ever checked, microscopically, to determine whether the elfcups in these woodlands are Scarlet (Sarcoscypha austriaca) or Ruby (Sarcoscypha coccinea).

210209 red elfcups (3)

And, though it would certainly be good to add them to the local biodiversity records, it was enough yesterday to simply feast my eyes on their magical elvish beauty.

210209 red elfcups (4)

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10/366 In my cups

10 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, winter

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

#FungiFriday, British fungi, Elfcups, Scarlet elfcup

It seems appropriate that I should be ‘in my cups’ on a Friday night, the traditional night at the end of the working week for downing an alcoholic beverage or three. But, in my case, I neither work nor drink, and my ‘cups’ are fungi, Scarlet elfcups to be precise. As these are one of my favourite species of fungi I’ve blogged about them several times before and explained, in a blog back in 2017, how I know these are Scarlet, not the less common Ruby elfcups. They are always a joy to find, and they recur at this particular site every year.

200110 scarlet elfcups (1)
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(Though, as you’ll see in that previous blog, I was excited to learn how to identify fungi using microscopy, I didn’t continue with it. SEWBReC moved to an out-of-town location so it would now be a two-bus ninety-minute journey to their office, and I didn’t want the expense of buying my own microscope.)

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Feathers and fungi at Forest Farm

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, fungi, nature, parks, walks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

biodiversity, Blue tit, Blushing bracket, Brittle cinder, coal tit, Elfcups, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Great tit, Grey heron, Hairy curtain crust, Moorhen, nuthatch, Song thrush, wren

I’ve blogged about the charms of the Forest Farm Nature Reserve many times before but I thought I’d share some of the highlights from last week’s wander …

180319 Forest Farm

Oh, and I will just add that the combination of feathers – me mostly looking upwards – and fungi – eyes down – can be quite difficult. By the end of the day, I felt like one of those nodding dog ornaments you used to see in the rear windows of cars. Still, ’twas a lovely long meandering walk!

180319 Blue tit
180319 Blushing bracket
180319 Brittle cinder
180319 Coal tit
180319 Elfcups
180319 Great tit
180319 Grey heron
180319 Hairy curtain crust
180319 Moorhen
180319 Nuthatch
180319 Song thrush
180319 Wren

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Scarlet elfcups

03 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

British fungi, Elfcups, fungus, Ruby elfcup, Sarcoscypha austriaca, Sarcoscypha coccinea, Scarlet elfcup

It’s elfcup fruiting time! There’s a spot in one of my local woodlands where these vibrant Scarlet elfcups (Sarcoscypha austriaca) grow in profusion so I made sure to head that way on yesterday’s wander, and I was not disappointed. In their hundreds, these little beauties are pushing up through the dense moss that covers the rotting branches and logs on the forest floor.

170103-scarlet-elfcup-1

I blogged about these gorgeous fungi last year and noted then that there are two species of red elfcups, the Scarlet (Sarcoscypha austriaca) and the Ruby (Sarcoscypha coccinea). They can only be differentiated, one from the other, through microscopic examination, but I know that the elfcups in my favoured spot are the Scarlet variety as a friend very kindly checked them for me. My mission now is to find the Ruby.

170103 Scarlet Elfcup (2)
170103 Scarlet Elfcup (3)
170103 Scarlet Elfcup (4)
170103 Scarlet Elfcup (5)

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Green elfcups

10 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Chlorociboria aeruginascens, Chlorociboria aeruginosa, cup fungi, cup fungus, Elfcups, Green elfcup, Nant Fawr Woodlands, Turquoise elfcup

I’d seen these gorgeous little cup fungi a few times before but last Saturday was the first time I’d found them myself, in nearby Nant Fawr Woodlands, and it’s fair to say I was over the moon! They’re tiny – I deliberately took a photo of my hand holding the fallen branch they were growing on to show their size – but their colour is so unusual that it catches the eye, so they’re not that difficult to spot, though they’re also not very common.

green-elfcup-4

Now, I don’t know about you but I would describe their colour as turquoise, or near as dammit, but there are two very similar species of these cups and these are more likely to be Green elfcups (Chlorociboria aeruginascens) rather than Turqoise elfcups (Chlorociboria aeruginosa), as the latter are smaller and quite rare. Microscope work is needed to distinguish the two and even that is reported to be difficult.

green-elfcup-1

One fascinating thing about these beautiful fungi is the green staining they cause in wood, and, not surprisingly, that wood is highly prized by woodturners. In fact, in Victorian times, green-stained oak was one of the woods used to make Tunbridge ware, the name given to a type of inlaid decorative woodwork that haled originally from the towns of Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells in Kent. The antique pieces are still highly sort after by collectors and just a little out of my price range but they certainly are lovely.

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Elfcups and Fairies’ baths

04 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, nature photography

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Elfcups, fungi, fungus, winter

Just as the Scarlet waxcaps are the jewels of the autumn meadows so the Elfcups are the jewels of the wet winter woodlands. Though they’re tiny (no more than 7cm across) and frequently half buried in moss, their eye-catching bright red colour makes them easy to spot in the damp shady places where they live on dead wood, particularly beech, hazel, hawthorn, willow and elm.

160104 elfcups (3)

Two Elfcups can be found in Britain – the Scarlet Elfcup (Sarcoscypha austriaca) and the Ruby Elfcup (Sarcoscypha coccinea). They are so similar in outward appearance that a microscope is required to distinguish between them and, even then, it’s not easy. With a goblet-shaped cup and short stem when young, which flattens into a cup shape as they mature, it’s not difficult to see where they got the name Elfcup, nor their other common name of Fairies’ Baths.

160104 elfcups (1)

In fact, that ‘bath’ is where the spores can be found. These fungi don’t drop their spores from gills like regular mushrooms; instead, they fire spores from structures called asci, a bit like a cannon fires cannon balls and, apparently, they make a tiny puffing sound when that happens. So, listen closely next time you see them.

160104 elfcups (2)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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