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Species Information
Summary: We use the term Peziza varia group to cover Peziza varia itself, Peziza cerea (which can be considered a synonym of Peziza varia), and Peziza ''repanda'' collections that are compatible with the description of Peziza varia. K. Hansen et al. comment about the use of this species concept, "Since the name lacks a type specimen and has been used inconsistently it is best treated as of uncertain application.", and this is elaborated as follows: Persoon described the habitat as "in sylvaticis ad terram" [in the woods on the ground]. Fries used the name for a species on old trunks, primarily of Fagus [beech], but also included blackened soil as the substrate - some authors have followed one and some the other, and still others have used the name for a species occurring on soil and only exceptionally on wood, and in all cases the spores are smooth and are in the size range for Peziza varia. The descriptions below are for Peziza repanda Pers. (Seaver, Dennis), Peziza repanda Pers.: Fr. (Hansen), or authority not given (Arora). Many records of P. repanda can be considered Peziza varia.
P. ''repanda'' is found at least in BC, WA, OR, ID, and also CA, CO, MT, WY, (Larsen for Peziza repanda Pers. ex Pers.), CA (Arora), NY to IA and MD, also Europe, (Seaver), Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, (Hansen), and United Kingdom (Dennis).
Upper surface: 4-13cm across or occasionally larger, "cup-shaped when young but expanding to nearly flat or often wavy (undulating), the margin often splitting"; spore-bearing upper surface pale brown to medium brown, tan, or when old somewhat darker, "smooth to somewhat wrinkled or convoluted at the center", (Arora), reaching 8-10cm across, at first cup-shaped, the margin even or crenate [scalloped], expanding and becoming repand, the margin remaining entire or splitting, regular in outline or irregularly revolute; upper surface concave becoming flat or convex, pale brown, becoming darker when old, (Seaver), occasionally up to 12cm across, "cup-shaped, becoming expanded and undulating"; spore-bearing upper surface light chestnut brown; margin often crenate [scalloped], (Dennis), 1-4cm across, cup-shaped then expanded; upper surface pale brownish, (Hansen)
Flesh: fairly brittle (Arora), whitish or fawn (Dennis)
Underside: pallid (Arora), white or whitish (Seaver), whitish or pale fawn toward margin; finely scurfy, (Dennis), grayish; bald to furfuraceous, (Hansen)
Stem: "absent or present only as a short, narrowed base", (Arora), when young with a short stout stem usually only a few mm long, but when mature stem is inconspicuous or obsolete, (Seaver), without a stem (Dennis)
Microscopic: spores 14-18 x 8-10 microns, elliptic, smooth, without oil droplets, (Arora), spores 14-16 x 8-10 microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless; asci reaching a length of 225 microns and a width of 12-15 microns, cylindric or subcylindric; paraphyses slender, slightly widened in upper part, yellowish or brownish, (Seaver), spores 15-16 x 9-10 microns, elliptic, smooth; asci up to 300 x 13 microns; paraphyses very slender, slightly clavate at tip, (Dennis), spores 16-17 x 9-10.5 microns, without droplets, (Hansen)
Habitat / Range
single, gregarious, or in clusters on logs and branches (especially of hardwoods), lignin-rich humus, etc., (Arora), on rotten logs or occasionally on soil or chip-piles, (Seaver), on the ground in woods, luxuriant forms on sawdust heaps, (Dennis), on rich soil (Hansen)
Similar Species
The flesh of P. repanda is stratified like that of Peziza varia but the disc is a different shade of brown (P. varia being "light grey-brown at first but soon becoming dark greyish-brown") and the peculiar moniliform paraphyses of P. varia are lacking, (Dennis). Peziza varia and Peziza cerea cannot be differentiated clearly on field characters, (Lincoff(2)). Collections designated as P. cerea, P. repanda, and Peziza micropus do not differ from P. varia enough to be separable as species, macroscopically, microscopically, or molecularly, (Hansen, K.). Dennis also describes the colors of the upper surface of P. cerea differently: "pale ochraceous or yellowish-brown" (Dennis).
