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Species Information
Summary:
Not available
Fruiting body: 2-10cm high, cap 0.15-1.5cm wide, round to cylindrical, cerebriform [brain-like], club-shaped, pear-shaped or lobed; bright orange to bright yellow, becoming ochraceous orange when old or pinkish when submerged in acidic water, smooth to wrinkled, slightly tremullose, (Redhead), 2-5cm high, with head and stem; head 0.3-1.2cm wide and 0.6-2cm high, spindle-shaped to elliptic, pear-shaped or irregularly rounded or lobed; translucent yellow to orange, becoming dull orange when old; somewhat gelatinous, smooth to slightly wrinkled, shiny, (Bessette)
Stem: 0.15-0.3cm wide in upper part, slightly enlarged in upper or lower part, unbranched; white to faintly pinkish; bald and slightly lubricous in upper part, moderately covered with matted hyphal hairs in lower part, (Redhead), 2-4cm x 0.15-0.3cm, enlarging slightly downward; whitish to pale translucent gray, sometimes tinted pink; smooth, shiny, (Bessette)
Microscopic: spores 11-17.5 x (1.5)2-2.5(3) microns, flexible, narrowly cylindric or clavate, occasionally fusoid-cylindric, one-celled or two-celled, lacking a gelatinous sheath; asci 8-spored, 115-123 x 5-7.5 microns, elongate-clavate, apical pores amyloid, croziers present; paraphyses 120-130 x 1.5-3 microns, filiform, slightly enlarged in upper part, (Redhead), spores 11-18 x 1.5-3 microns, narrowly elliptic to cylindric or slightly club-shaped, single-celled or two-celled with a septum, smooth, colorless, (Bessette)
Habitat / Range
gregarious, single to cespitose, in shallow water, on decaying wet needles, scales, twigs, leaves, or fruits of Acer saccharinum, Alnus rubra, A. rugosa, Fagus grandifolia, Liquidambar styraciflua, Lysichitum americanum, Osmunda cinnamomea, Pinus monticola, P. strobus, Quercus borealis, Q. prinus, Thuja occidentalis, T. plicata, mats of Calliergonella cuspidatum and Sphagnum recurvum, and logs, mud, algal mats, or other unidentified vegetation, April to September, (Redhead), scattered or in groups in shallow water on decaying leaves, needles, twigs, and debris in woodlands and bogs, April-August, (Bessette for northeastern North America)
Similar Species
Mitrula borealis has been recorded much less often, and is reliably differentiated by its spores. It has been found in Montana close to the Idaho border, but not otherwise confirmed from the Pacific Northwest. Mitrula lunulatospora of eastern North America is distinguished by spores 11-19 x (2)2.5-3.5(4) microns that are lunate to cymbiform [boat-shaped] and inflexible. Mitrula paludosa of Europe has spores are slightly broader (11-19(24) x (2)2.5-3.5(4) microns) than spores of Mitrula elegans. Vibrissea truncorum is somewhat similar but prefers to fruit in running water and is usually submerged - the head is usually orangish to pinkish orange and rounder and more regularly shaped than with Mitrula elegans. See also SIMILAR section of Bryoglossum gracile.
