Dancersend

By Dancersend

Minute fungus

I finally tracked down the same group of Scarlet Elf Cup fungi that I blipped in the snow about a week ago and searched for the tiny fungus I had only noticed after looking at the photograph at home. Here it is with a one penny coin to give some scale. The numeral 1 on the coin is just over 3mm long. The larger of the fungus fruiting bodies is around7mm tall. Viewed from above (and without knowing how tiny it is) I'd have said it was one of the Peziza group of cup fungi, but they rarely have a stem, and certainly not one as pronounced and chunky as this. With a stem like this it is more like the Helvella group of saddle-shaped fungi, but I can't find one that fits. This is going to take microscopic investigation next, probably by someone more expert.

The amazing thing is that once I was focusing in on these macro shots, I found two even smaller structures alongside the two fungus stems - a tiny spherical cup fungus, only 2mm across, on the right in this picture, and an interesting minute vertical cylinder with a hole in the top on the left which might just be another fungal fruiting body. I think I'm going to have to get a camera attachment for my microscope next!

Comments New comments are not currently accepted on this journal.