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Species Information
Summary: Features include saucer-shaped, undulating cup with the upper surface olive-brown, thin fragile reddish brown flesh, reddish brown underside that is furfuraceous especially toward the margin, absent stem, growth on ground (rarely on wood), and microscopic characters including spores with a reticulum of longitudinal ridges. The name Peziza badia has been used in the past for P. phyllogena (see SIMILAR).
Peziza badia is found at least in BC, OR, ID, and also AB, MB, NF, NS, ON, PE, PQ, AK, CA, CO, CT, FL, IA, MA, ME, MI, MT, NJ, NY, TN, VA, VT, and WI, (Elliott, M.E.(2)), and BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, AK, CA, CO, and NM, (Larsen). It is widely distributed in northern North America as well as AL and CA, (Phillips).
Upper surface: 3-7(10)cm, saucer-shaped, irregularly undulating; spore-bearing upper surface dark olive-brown, (Breitenbach), up to 8cm across, more or less cup-shaped but irregularly undulating when old; spore-bearing upper surface olive-brown, drying darker, (Dennis)
Flesh: thin, fragile; reddish brown, (Breitenbach), thin, pale reddish brown with watery juice, (Dennis)
Underside: reddish brown; furfuraceous, especially toward margin, (Breitenbach), reddish brown, scurfy, especially toward margin, (Dennis)
Stem: none (Breitenbach, Dennis)
Odor: none in particular (Breitenbach)
Taste: none in particular (Breitenbach)
Microscopic: spores (15)17.5-18.5 x (8)10-11 microns, elliptic, with irregular reticulate ornamentation, colorless, usually with 2 droplets; asci 8-spored, 300-330 x (12)15 microns, positive reaction to iodine; paraphyses cylindric, septate, weakly clavate at tips, (Breitenbach), spores (14.0)15.3-20.0(21.5) x 7.6-9.6(11.0) microns (average 17.5 x 9.0 microns), "ornamented with short predominantly longitudinal ridges which unite to form an incomplete and irregular reticulum, ridges about 0.5 microns in height, apiculus not seen", pale yellow-brown in IKI and the outer wall with a blue tinge, colorless to nearly colorless, in apical (110)125-140(180) microns of ascus, uniseriate, (one-)two-guttulate; asci 8-spored, (250)270-335(365) x (13.5)15.0 microns, cylindric, tapering slightly in lower part, forming a foot at the base, rounded to truncate at top, tip J+ in IKI and faint blue extending down ascus wall to third or fourth spore; paraphyses "not numerous, slightly longer than asci, septate, branched near base, slightly wider at tip, about 5.0 microns, often slightly roughened at tip", (Elliott, M.E.(2)), spores 17-20 x 9-12 microns, elliptic, ornamented with short ridges that tend to unite to form an irregular reticulum, mostly with 2 oil droplets but one often larger than the other; asci up to 330 x 15 microns; paraphyses straight, slightly clavate, (Dennis)
Habitat / Range
gregarious on path embankments, in forests, on bare sandy ground, commonly on freshly broken sandy-loamy soils, June to October, (Breitenbach), on ground in hardwood, coniferous or mixed woods, in two collections only from rotten or buried wood, (Elliott, M.E.(2)), on ground in woods, especially on sandy soil, (Dennis)
Similar Species
Peziza varia [group] and Peziza vesiculosa are differentiated most clearly by the color of the upper surface (Breitenbach). Peziza phyllogena (as P. badio-confusa Korf) was distinguished from P. badia in 1954 by Korf: speaking of P. badio-confusa Korf, he said, "This species is almost invariably determined in America as Peziza badia [name in italics], and certainly is that figured by Seaver... under this name. It is perhaps our commonest large cup-fungus, and it seems to me that it must have been described before 1897 by some European or American author, but I have seen no types which match it. The true P. badia [name in italics] has reticulate spore-markings, as shown by Le Gal". (Korf(5)). Elliott & Kaufert in 1974 redescribed both of these species microscopically, refining the distinction between the two species: P. phyllogena had spores with "walls finely roughened, with warts about 0.5 microns in height, frequently smooth at ends of mature spores as primary wall remains attached (apiculus)" (with the letter mu used for microns), whereas P. badia had spores "ornamented with short predominantly longitudinal ridges which unite to form an incomplete and irregular reticulum, ridges about 0.5 microns in height, apiculus not seen"; if the fruitbody was found on downed wood rather than on the ground it was much more likely to be P. phyllogena although occasional collections of P. badia are found on wood, P. phyllogena was collected from May 18 to July 26 in Canada and from March 28 to June 25 in the US (excluding AK), [although Ginns examined a September 12 collection from ON and cites a September collection from AK], whereas P. badia was collected from July 18 to October 25 in Canada and from June 21 to October 5 in the US; P. phyllogena was examined from BC, ON, PQ, AK, MA, NY, MD, and PA. (Elliott, M.E.(2)). P. phyllogena was reported from BC, WA, OR, ID, CA, UT, (Larsen as P. badioconfusa). See also SIMILAR section of Peziza limnaea.
