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Species Information
Summary: Features include 1) a permanently cup-shaped fruitbody with an incurved margin, 2) light yellowish brown upper surface that may develop wrinkles or blisters centrally, 3) whitish to brown exterior that is minutely roughened or scurfy, 4) absent or short stout stem, 5) growth on manure piles, manured straw or hay, or heavily fertilized soil, and 6) microscopic characters.
Peziza vesiculosa is found at least in BC, WA, OR, ID, CA, and CO, (Larsen), AB (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), NY to WA, CA, AL, and probably throughout North America, (Seaver), Switzerland (Breitenbach), United Kingdom (Dennis), and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, (Hansen).
Upper surface: up to 10cm across, closed and bladder-like when young with rounded opening that appears by gradual tearing, never expanded when old but always bladder-like to saucer-shaped with incurved and irregularly split margin; spore-bearing upper surface light ocher-brownish, smooth, (Breitenbach), up to 8cm across, permanently cup-shaped, often with strongly incurved margin; upper surface light yellowish brown, (Dennis), 2-8cm, at first more or less spherical, opening to cup-shaped with inrolled, often crimped or convoluted margin; upper surface yellowish to yellow-brown to pale brown or buff, sometimes darker brown when old; smooth or wrinkled toward center, (Arora), pale brown upper surface, (Seaver), margin remaining incrusted or toothed, whitish, (Courtecuisse)
Flesh: fragile; pale, (Breitenbach), very brittle; pale fawn, (Dennis), rather fragile and soft, (Arora), juicy, thick, fragile, (Lincoff(1))
Underside: ocher to dingy whitish, smooth, furfuraceous, (Breitenbach), pale fawn; coarsely scurfy, (Dennis), "whitish to buff or pale tan"; minutely rough or scurfy, (Arora), "typically mottled and strong brown at first, fading to light yellowish brown and eventually becoming dingy white as it dries out", (McKnight), grayish yellow (Hansen), darker than upper surface (Seaver)
Stem: absent, or present only "as a narrowed basal point of attachment", (Arora), without stem or with a very stout stem-like base, (Seaver)
Odor: none (Lincoff(1))
Taste: none (Lincoff(1))
Microscopic: spores 18-23 x 10-13 microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless, without droplets; asci 8-spored, 320-370 x 17-24 microns, positive reaction to iodine; paraphyses "slender, septate, and slightly constricted at the septa (moniliform)", tip slightly widened, (Breitenbach), spores 20-24 x 11-14 microns, elliptic, smooth; asci up to 380 x 25 microns; paraphyses "slender, straight, scarcely clavate", (Dennis), spores 18-24 x 10-14 microns, elliptic, smooth, without oil droplets, (Arora), ascus tips stain blue in iodine (McKnight)
Habitat / Range
single or gregarious, "usually fused together in clusters to form large clumps", on "dungheaps, manured ground, commonly on horse manure, in commercial mushroom beds", throughout the year, (Breitenbach), on manure heaps and richly manured soil, mushroom beds, etc., August to April, (Dennis), restricted to +/- manured straw or hay, richly manured soil and mulched beds, but apparently not or rarely directly on dung, (Hansen, K.), single "or more often gregarious (sometimes in large clusters) on manure, dung, rotting straw, in corrals, around stables, gardens, and other fertilized areas, etc.", (Arora), "on manure heaps and rich manured soil", "June to October; November to February on West Coast", (Lincoff(2)), on droppings of large herbivores or on the ground, all year especially late winter and spring, (Lincoff(1)), "on manure heaps, old straw, or composted soil", (Trudell)
Similar Species
Peziza fimeti "also grows in dung, but is smaller (up to 2cm) and dull brown, seldom grows in clusters, and has smaller spores", (Arora). P. fimeti grows on dung and has smooth spores in the same size range, but differs in small disc-shaped fruitbodies and other characters, (Hansen, K.). Phillips(1) says that Peziza bovina is found in the Pacific Northwest: according to Dennis(1), it has "similar ascospores, 19-22 x 9(10) microns borne by small (under 1cm diameter) umbilicate-revolute umber-brown apothecia on cow dung". See also SIMILAR section of Peziza badia.
