Scarlet Elf Cup

Sarcoscypha austriaca

Scarlet Elf Cup

Venturing into Porthkerry Wood, (Vale of Glamorgan, Wales)  I found these Scarlet Elf Cups, partly buried in damp moss and rotting wood.

“The irregularly shaped cups have a smooth, bright red hymenial (fertile) inner surface and a felted outer surface. Cup diameter ranges from 2 to 7 cm when fully extended; height typically 1 to 2 cm. The outer (infertile) surface is paler than the inside, sometimes pinkish but often with an ochre tinge. It is covered in tiny hairs, which in this species are in the form of tangled coils’

First-Nature – Scarlet Elf Cup

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