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Species Information
Summary: Features include a yellow to whitish or dull orange cup with white downy hairs on the exterior and margin, disc that is yellow to orange, slender stem, and clustered growth just at or below ground level on plant debris and wood. Haines(1) says it is a fairly common fungus in western Washington. It is one of the larger members of the genus in North America.
It is "found throughout northern US and southern Canada", and also in Europe, (Seaver). It was reported by Oluna Ceska near Nanaimo BC (determined by J. Ginns from British Cup Fungi and their Allies by Dennis). Haines(1) reported it from WA in his Master''s thesis.
Upper surface: fruitbody 0.2-0.4cm across, 0.2-0.7cm high, at first funnel-shaped, then spreading and flat; spore-bearing upper surface pale yellow to deep yellow, often varying toward orange or apricot, retaining the color when dried or becoming more ochraceous; margin rather blunt, when dried becoming somewhat elevated above the spore-bearing surface, finely and obscurely puberulent [downy], (Seaver), cup-shaped becoming expanded to expose a yellow disc up to 0.4cm across, (Dennis), fruitbody 0.2-0.4cm wide, white to yellowish, drying yellow, (Hansen), fruitbody 0.10-0.15cm across, disc flat or shallowly cup-shaped; light yellow, (Haines)
Underside: pale yellow to flesh-color, or dull orange, more or less whitish-puberulent, often appearing smooth when dried, (Seaver), clothed with fine downy hairs (Dennis), white, drying yellow; "scantily covered with short, white appearing hairs that tend to fall off at maturity", (Haines)
Stem: slender, flexuous [wavy], usually somewhat thickened just below the disc, (Seaver), usually long and slender (Dennis), 0.3-0.7cm long, (Hansen), long-stemmed (Haines)
Microscopic: spores 7-11 x 1.9-2.4 microns, "narrow, broadest just above the middle, slightly tapering toward a point, at the lower end, round, or only slightly pointed above, straight", 1-celled, biseriate; asci 60-75 x 4.5-6 microns, cylindric; paraphyses protruding above the asci, 3-4.5 microns wide, more or less lance-pointed, septate; hairs 20-50 microns long, 4-6 microns wide, clavate, rough, hyaline-white, 1-2-septate, (Seaver), spores 7-12 x 1.5-2.5 microns, narrowly fusiform, non-septate, biseriate; asci 8-spored, up to 70 x 6 microns, cylindric-clavate; paraphyses much longer than asci, 5 microns wide, lanceolate; hairs up to 40 x 5 microns, (Dennis), spores 7-12 x 1.5-2.5 microns, cylindric to fusoid, aseptate; asci 60-75 x 4.5-6 microns; paraphyses exceeding the asci by 15-25 microns, 4-5 microns wide; hairs 20-45 x 3-4 microns, cylindric, thin-walled, colorless, without apical crystals, (Hansen), spores (6)7-9(10) x 2 microns, "clavate, pointed at one end, sometimes very slightly curved", colorless, "non-septate, usually without conspicuous inclusions, obliquely oriented in the ascus"; asci 6-8-spored, 50-55 x 4-5 microns, cylindric with a long, tapering, thick stalk; lanceolate paraphyses 2.5-3.5 microns at widest part, exceeding the asci by up to 25 microns, "usually without conspicuous, granular contents, septa, when present, only in the lower portion"; hairs 2.5-3.0 microns wide, up to 50 microns long, "with a slightly bulbous tip" up to 6 microns wide, colorless, thin-walled, "septate, finely but distinctly granulate on the surface, no crystal masses were observed at the tips", (Haines)
Habitat / Range
"gregarious or cespitose, typically occurring in a few cespitose clusters of five to ten each, surrounded by a few growing singly", "arising at ground level on partly buried plant debris of all sorts, especially on roots and rhizomes of grasses and other herbaceous plants" and on limbs of both hardwood and coniferous trees, (Seaver), clustered or gregarious "on dead wood or branches just covered by soil or on dead roots and grass rhizomes, often on Ulex", in spring and fall, (Dennis), on buried dead branches, roots and rhizomes, (Hansen), "usually found on roots or other partially buried wood" (Haines)
Similar Species
Capitotricha bicolor is more or less stemless. Lachnum virgineum has similar hairs but L. pygmaeum is much larger and almost bald at maturity, and has long-stalked asci, (Haines(1)).
