Scarlet
Elfcup (Sarcoscypha austriaca)
The
stunning S. austriaca,
commonly referred to as Scarlet Elfcup, is widespread but generally only occasional
throughout Britain and Ireland. It appears in winter and early spring on dead hardwood
twigs in damp, shady places, usually partly buried amongst moss and leaf litter.
The fruiting body is cup-shaped with a smooth scarlet interior. Of course
identification is never as easy as it may first seem as the macroscopically
almost identical S. coccinea,
the Ruby Elfcup, occurs in similar environments. The two can only reliably be
identified by DNA analysis or, to those of us without such facilities being readily
available, microscopic examination of the tomentum [microscopic hairs on the
outer surface of the cups] and spores.
The
above images show a small selection of specimens recently photographed in West Sussex.
My special thanks to Nick Aplin of the Sussex Fungus Group who kindly supplied
the photomicrograph and confirmed their identification by observing the
distinctive ascospore germination and the depressed spore poles which separate S. austriaca and S. coccinea.
References:
Buczacki,
S., Shields, C. and Ovenden, D. (2012). Collins
Fungi Guide: The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of
Britain & Ireland. London: HarperCollins, p. 608, fig. p. 607.
O’Reilly,
P. (2016). Fascinated by Fungi –
exploring the majesty and mystery, facts and fantasy of the quirkiest kingdom
on earth. Llandysul: First Nature, pp. 21, 62, 309 and 387.
Phillips,
R. (2006). Mushrooms. London: Pan Macmillan,
p. 367, fig. p. 366 (i).
Sterry,
P. and Hughes. B. (2009). Collins
Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: HarperCollins,
p. 326, fig. p. 327.
beautiful work there Mark, glad you got the ID confirmations, I'm still wondering if there were some un-sampled specimen around of the other variety. Always a chance ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jim. Much appreciated. I agree and was rather hoping from the samples collected that I'd have both species. My gut reaction was that the main site was austriaca and that one of the smaller satellite sites might have produced coccinea. Another excuse to keep on looking ...
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