Thursday 2 May 2013

Tiny Orange Cups


    I noticed these tiny fungus (1/3 of an inch, 1 cm across the top) popping up out of the moss in one place along our trail.  It happens every spring, and the fact that they are about the only thing with color always attracts my attention.
    Their scientific name is sarcoscypha occidentalis.  Don’t be impressed by my giving you the latin name, because I have to look it up every year.  To me, they are just “tiny orange cup fungus”. 
    In my mushroom guide it says they grow in eastern North America, but obviously some have spread a bit further than that.  It shows them growing out of the end of small decaying twigs.  I assume these guys are doing the same thing.
    It is always reassuring to me that the same natural organisms, generally show themselves in the same place, at the same time every year.

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