Solitary fungus on twig

[Bruce Williams]

Salcey Forest, Northants. 25th Feb. Solitary head (approx 10mm diameter) growing on twig(?) in damp moss.

Help with identification appreciated.



Bruce

[CapAndBracket]

considering the size you give, and the cup on stem configuration, the stem looks somewhat hairy, my best gess would be a Helvella macropus

Cheers J.P.

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks J.P. .

I've checked out your suggestion via Google. From the images I've found H. Macropus would appear to be quite a variable species as some of the pics showed a VERY hairy underside and stem while others look much less hairy - more like the specimen in my pic. In fact some of the pics look to be a pretty close match.

Jordan gives the size of H. Macropus as 1.5-4cm which even at the small end is still significantly larger than the fruitbody in my pic. Allowing for some measuring error I'm sure the diameter was no more than 12mm.

Bruce

[Leif]

Hello Bruce

I find Helvella macropus from time to time near Guildford, and the colour is always grey, whereas yours is brown. The photos I have and those in books show a granular structure to the cup underside, and a much more concave form so I really don't think that is your species.

But the news is not bad as it is an interesting find. Keizer lists H. corium, H. villosa, H. cupuliformis and H. queletti as similar. The Swiss guides list Cyathipodia cupuliformis and C. villosa and I think these should be considered on the grounds of form, size and colour. Online images of H. corium show very dark fruiting bodies.

For example here is C. villosa:

Helvella villosa (Hedw.) Dissing & Nannf.; piestrzyca g³adkozarodnikowa

My suspicion is that you have C. cupuliformis but without being able to examine the spores, or other details, I would not like to say any more than that.

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by Bruce Williams

Thanks J.P. .

I've checked out your suggestion via Google. From the images I've found H. Macropus would appear to be quite a variable species as some of the pics showed a VERY hairy underside and stem while others look much less hairy - more like the specimen in my pic. In fact some of the pics look to be a pretty close match.

Jordan gives the size of H. Macropus as 1.5-4cm which even at the small end is still significantly larger than the fruitbody in my pic. Allowing for some measuring error I'm sure the diameter was no more than 12mm.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,
My best gess was based on the above, from what Leif has written i think once again this is worth collecting and sending of for expert analysis.

Cheers J.P.