Sarcoscypha

BROCSMAN · #1 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 08:25 PM

I was interested in the thread in the main Fungi forum about this. I found a huge patch of it last week, and tried to identify it.

I bought my microscope last Autumn, and haven't really got the hang of it yet, and I failed to find anything I could lrecognise. Could someone please give me a clue what I would need to do to produce the sort of photos posted in that thread.

It 's a good microcope which I bought from Brunel. I've got a USB camera, and I know how to use it. I think I need guidance on how to prepare specimens to put on the slide.

Thanks

flaxton · #2 (**permalink**) 21-03-2010, 05:43 PM

Hi
As no one else has spotted your question here goes.
The two things you are looking for with Sarcoscypha (I assume as I have never managed to find one

) are the spores and the hairs on the outside of the cup.
The best way I find is to use something like a razorblade to cut the fruitbody in half and then take a sliver from the edge you have just created. The smaller this piece the easier it is to examine. It should be almost too small to see. If you are looking at the spores and ascii try to take your sample from the inner surface of your specimen. If you are wanting to examine the hairs try to take the sample from the outer surface.
Put the slivers on a glass slide and add a drop of liquid (which may be water or a stain such as congo red or Meltzers). If you are using a dropper or a pippet, add the liquid just along side your sample and using a pin or the like move your specimens into the liquid. Doing it this way ensures that you don't pick up any part of the specimen on the end of the dropper and so it stops the contamination of your next slide. Then carefully lower a cover slip onto the slide and using the rubber on the end of a pencil squash the material. If you have done this right you will be able to see the ascii even at low magnification. If your sample was too big you may not be able to squash it enough to see the elements you are searching for.

This is Cheilymenia stercorea

showing the ascii and spores at 400x

and the stellate hairs from the outside of the cup

Mal

BROCSMAN · #3 (**permalink**) 21-03-2010, 09:08 PM

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a go with a slightly dry fruitbody I gathered yesterday. Sorry to hear you haven't come across it. Here in Shropshire there are areas of woodland almost carpeted with it at the moment. Not much else though!

BROCSMAN · #4 (**permalink**) 24-03-2010, 09:17 PM

These are the photos I took, and if I've got it right I think they point to S. coccinea. I'd be glad of more feedback to let me know if I'm on the right track.