E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Bisporella citrina (Batsch ex Fr.) Korf & S.E. Carp.
yellow fairy cups
Helotiaceae

Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.

Introduction to the Macrofungi

© Adolf Ceska  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #19177)

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Distribution of Bisporella citrina
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Species Information

Summary:
Features include tiny shallow yellow cups growing in large numbers on dead hardwoods, stemless or with short stem, and microscopic characters. Bisporella citrina is commonly identified in the Pacific Northwest.

It is found throughout North America, July to November, (Lincoff(2)). The University of British Columbia has collections from BC and MN and the University of Washington has collections from WA, OR, AK, and New Zealand. Cornell (CUP) has collections from ON, MD, Denmark, Finland, France, Greenland, and Hungary.
Upper surface:
0.1-0.3cm across, saucer-shaped to plate-shaped or expanded with a convex disc, "lemon-yellow to yolk-yellow, margin often somewhat darker", (Breitenbach), up to 0.3cm across, shallow cup-shaped, slightly concave; deep yellow drying orange-yellow, (Dennis)
Underside:
lemon-yellow to yolk-yellow; smooth, (Breitenbach), paler than upper surface; smooth, (Dennis)
Stem:
stemless or with very short stem (Breitenbach), narrowed to a small base (Dennis)
Microscopic:
spores 8-12 x 3-3.6 microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless, with 2 drops, with single septum when mature, irregularly uniseriate; asci 8-spored, 100-125 x 7-8 microns, amyloid; paraphyses filiform [thread-like], tips with slight clavate thickenings, (Breitenbach), spores 9-14 x 3-5 microns, elliptic, with oil drops at each end, biseriate, often becoming 1-septate; asci 8-spored, up to 135 x 10 microns, cylindric-clavate, pore not distinctly blue with iodine; paraphyses slender, slightly widened upward and containing large yellow oil drops, (Dennis)

Habitat / Range

gregarious and cespitose on dead branches of hardwoods, usually covering entire branches, (Breitenbach), gregarious, on wood or erumpent from bark, (Dennis), in large numbers on dead wood of hardwoods (Phillips), spring to fall (Lincoff(1)), in large numbers on hardwood branches that have lost their bark (Trudell)

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Calycella citrina Hedw.) Boud.
Helvella confusa Harmaja
Peziza leucomelas Pers.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Range and Status Information Links

Additional Photo Sources

Related Databases

Species References

Breitenbach(1)*, Dennis(1), Phillips(1)*, Lincoff(2)*, Lincoff(1)*, Schalkwijk-Barendsen(1)*, Trudell(4)*, Desjardin(6), Baral(2)

References for the fungi

General References