Scarlet Elf Cup
The scarlet elf cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea) is a cup-shaped fungus with a bright red interior that grows on fallen, mossy sticks in damp woods in winter and early spring, in Europe, Asia and North America.
The scarlet elf cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea) is a cup-shaped fungus with a bright red interior that grows on fallen, mossy sticks in damp woods in winter and early spring, in Europe, Asia and North America.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Scarlet Elf Cup in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Opisthokonta lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
A Hissing Fungus
When the cups are mature and disturbed, they release clouds of spores into the air with an audible hiss. The spores are shot from tiny sacs (asci) lining the cup. Wind then carries the cloud.
Red Without Chlorophyll
The red color comes from carotenoid pigments in the cup lining, which may protect the spores from ultraviolet light. The cup's outer surface is paler and covered in minute hairs.
A Wood Decomposer
The fungus feeds on dead wood buried in leaf litter. Like the morel, it belongs to the Pezizales cup fungi. See Yellow Morel.
Scarlet Elf Cup at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Sarcoscypha coccinea |
| Kingdom | Fungi |
| Phylum | Fungi |
| Class | Pezizomycetes |
| Order | Pezizales |
| Family | Sarcoscyphaceae |
| Field Guide group | Opisthokonta: Fungi (True Fungi & Lichens) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Bright scarlet cups on fallen mossy sticks in late winter; spores are shot out of microscopic sacs lining the cup. |
| Order | Pezizales |
| Season | Winter and early spring |