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Species Information
Summary: Features include small size, goblet to cup shape, grayish ochraceous color, scalloped margin, lighter exterior due to pale down, growth on the ground, and microscopic characters. The Breitenbach description is for T. cupularis (L. ex Fr.) Lambotte sensu Dennis (1978).
Tarzetta cupularis is found in BC, WA, OR, ID, CA, and CO, (Larsen).
Upper surface: 0.5-1.5(2)cm wide, remaining goblet-shaped to cup-shaped for a long time; gray-whitish to gray-ocher; smooth; margin finely toothed and when young can have a cobwebby appearance, (Breitenbach), less than 2cm, permanently cup-shaped with crenate [scalloped] margin; grayish ochraceous, (Dennis), 1-2cm wide, tightly cup-shaped even when mature; pale gray-buff, margin irregularly and finely toothed, (Phillips), 1-2cm wide and high, cup-shaped; grayish tan; with rounded-toothed margin, (Lincoff)
Underside: appears lighter due to its covering of fine, pale down, (Phillips), with brownish pustules (Breitenbach), minutely downy (Dennis)
Stem: indistinct to very distinct, buried in ground, (Breitenbach), sessile or nearly so (Dennis)
Microscopic: spores 20-22 x 13-15 microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless, with 2 large droplets; asci 8-spored, 250-280 x 15-16 microns, inamyloid; paraphyses "slender, septate, and forked at the base, tips slightly thickened", (Breitenbach), spores 19-21 x 13-15 microns, broadly elliptic, with two large oil droplets; asci about 300 x 15 microns; paraphyses "slender, septate, colorless, slightly enlarged upwards", (Dennis), spores 19-23 x 10-15 microns, with two large oil droplets, (Trudell)
Habitat / Range
on burned ground, damp soil, and moss in coniferous woods, June to September, (Phillips), usually single, but also gregarious, on "loamy streetsides and embankments, under trees, bushes, and herbs, usually on bare ground", April to October, (Breitenbach for Switzerland)
Similar Species
Tarzetta catinus has narrower spores and generally larger size, (Breitenbach following Dennis). T. catinus has a larger cup and a longer stem (Trudell). Note also the lobed tips on paraphyses in T. catinus, and lack of grayish shading. Geopyxis vulcanalis is yellowish, without oil droplets in the spores.
