Partial Key to North American Cup Fungi 
NOTE: Although I enjoy microscope work, I try to avoid it whenever possible when I am identifying mushrooms. However, cup fungus identification often requires a microscope--especially if one has collected one of the many brownish cups found in North American woods. Thus the key below delays using microscopic features for as long as possible--but does, inevitably, resort to them when the microscopic piper must be paid. Many places in the key are still undeveloped; I apologize to readers whose cup fungi are not yet included.
| 1. | Mushroom tiny or quite small, holding structures that look remarkably like "eggs" in a "bird's nest." | |
| 1. | Mushroom not appearing like a bird's nest with eggs. | 2 |
| 2. | Cups when young growing partially underground (usually in clusters), the margin later peeling back in vaguely star-like rays; inner surface pale lilac to purplish when fresh; common in the Rocky Mountains and western North America, more rare in the east. | |
| 2. | Not completely as above. | 3 |
| 3. | Growing in burned areas (burned forests, camp-fire pits, and so on). | 4 |
| 3. | Not growing in burned areas. | 5 |
| 5. | Margin of cup with tiny hairs, reminiscent of eyelashes or fringe (a hand lens may be required)--and/or undersurface of cup hairy. | 6 |
| 5. | Margin of cup without eyelashes or fringe; undersurface of cup smooth, velvety, granular, finely fuzzy, pustulate (and so on) but not hairy. | 14 |
| 6. | Upper surface whitish to pale tan or pale bluish; undersurface with brown hairs that contrast with the paler surface underneath. | 7 |
| 6. | Upper surface brightly colored (red, orange, yellow); hairs on undersurface variously colored. | 9 |
| 7. | Cup 1-3 cm across at maturity. | 8 |
| 7. | Cup 2-7 cm across at maturity; usually with a ribbed pseudo-stem (often submerged in the ground) measuring up to about 2 x 2 cm; spores 25-30 µ long. | |
| 8. | Stem absent; undersurface densely hairy, appearing more or less brown from the hairs; spores 20-25 µ long. | |
| 8. | Pseudo-stem usually present (often submerged in the ground); undersurface sparsely hairy, appearing pale; spores 30-45 µ long. | |
| 9. | Cup goblet-shaped, fringed with prominent tufts of white hairs, about a centimeter across when mature; stem long and well developed. | |
| 10. | Mature spores with oil droplets. | 11 |
| 10. | Mature spores without oil droplets. | 12 |
| 11. | Cups to 3 mm across; mature spores smooth. | |
| 11. | Cups to 15 mm across; mature spores with prominent warts. | |
| 12. | Hairs pale yellowish or, at the most, light brown; growing on dung or occasionally on plant debris or soil. | Cheilymenia theleboloides |
| 12. | Hairs dark brown; growing only on dung. | 13 |
| 13. | Mature cup usually over half a centimeter across; hairs not branching (under the microscope). | Cheilymenia coprinaria |
| 13. | Mature cup usually less than half a centimeter across; hairs along the margin not branching, but hairs farther down the cup's outer surface branching. | |
| 14. | Cup with a well developed stem that is fairly long in proportion to the cup (not stubby or rudimentary). | 15 |
| 14. | Cup without a stem, or with a stubby or rudimentary stem. | 27 |
| 15. | Growing from sticks or (sometimes buried) woody debris in spring in eastern North America; goblet-shaped when young; inner/upper surface black; outer/under surface brown to black, usually scaly; stem black, tapered to base. | |
| 15. | Not completely as above. | 16 |
| 16. | Stem prominently ribbed; cup yellow brown to brown, grayish brown, or gray. | 17 |
| 16. | Stem not ribbed; cup variously colored. | 19 |
| 17. | Ribs not extending onto the undersurface of the cap. | |
| 17. | Ribs, by maturity, extending onto the undersurface of the cup. | 18 |
| 18. | Cup yellow-brown; ribs with sharp edges. | |
| 18. | Cup gray to grayish brown; ribs with blunt edges. | |
| 19. | Cup tiny and bright red; growing from sticks or buried woody debris in hardwood forests east of the Rocky Mountains. | 20 |
| 19. | Not completely as above. | 21 |
| 20. | Mushroom goblet-shaped; undersurface covered with long, whitish hairs. | |
| 20. | Mushroom saucer-shaped or cup-shaped; outer surface not hairy. | |
| 21. | Cups minute (4 mm wide or less); growing on hickory shells, acorns, and other "nutty" debris; uniformly whitish to pale yellow. | |
| 21. | Not completely as above. | 22 |
| 22. | Cups bright orange; stem whitish; common on the West Coast but rare or absent elsewhere in North America. | |
| 22. | Cup not orange; stem variously colored; variously distributed. | 23 |
| 23. | Cups darkly colored (very dark brown to black). | 24 |
| 23. | Cups paler than above (tan, grayish brown, brown, or gray). | 25 |
| 24. | Widely distributed in montane and northern North America; growing terrestrially in woods; spores with one large oil droplet. | |
| 24. | Apparently limited to western North America; growing from woody debris under conifers, often in spring, near melting snowbanks; spores without oil droplets. | |
| 25. | Mature spores spindle-shaped. | |
| 25. | Mature spores elliptical. | 26 |
| 26. | Stem whitish, stout (about as long as the cup is wide, or shorter); cup pale to medium grayish brown. | |
| 26. | Stem brownish to brown, not stout (usually longer than the cup is wide at maturity); cup medium to dark brown. | Helvella chinensis
(= H. villosa, H. pallidula) |
| 27. | Growing on the ground (if "the ground" is actually your carpet or flooring, see Peziza domiciliana). | 47 |
| 28. | Flesh thick and gelatinous; upper surface drab orangish or reddish; outer surface dark brown or black; spores warted; growing in clusters on hardwood sticks and logs east of the Rocky Mountains. | |
| 28. | Not completely as above. | 29 |
| 29. | Broadly attached to the wood so that only the extreme margin can be lifted; flesh somewhat gelatinous or rubbery. | 30 |
| 29. | Attached to the wood centrally, but not broadly; flesh fairly brittle. | 33 |
| 30. | Spores stippled or warted. | 32 |
| 31. | Mature cup less than 1 cm wide. | Pachyella babingtonii |
| 31. | Mature cup up to 5 cm wide. | |
| 32. | Warts 1 µ or longer. | Pachyella adnata |
| 32. | Warts tiny (spores merely stippled in appearance). | |
| 33. | Entire fruiting body blue to greenish blue; growing from greenish stained wood. | 34 |
| 35. | Upper surface bright red when fresh. | 36 |
| 35. | Upper surface otherwise colored. | 39 |
| 36. | Cup typically < 2 cm across; spores < 21 µ long; found east of the Rocky Mountains. | |
| 36. | Cup larger; spores longer. | 37 |
| 37. | Found in the Pacific Northwest and California; spores usually unsheathed. | |
| 37. | Found elsewhere; spores sheathed or not. | 38 |
| 38. | Mature spores with rounded ends; spores with several large (5-7 µ) oil droplets; spores when fresh and viewed in a water mount often encased by a full sheath; hairs on excipular surface not curling and twisted under the microscope. | |
| 38. | At least some mature spores with flattened ends; spores with many oil droplets smaller than above; spores when fresh and viewed in a water mount lacking a full sheath but occasionally with "polar caps" (a sheathlike covering at each end); hairs on excipular surface curling and twisted under the microscope. | |
| 39. | Cups bright yellow; under half a centimeter across. | 40 |
| 39. | Not completely as above. | 43 |
| 40. | Cup with a (proportionally) substantial stem; growing on small sticks or twigs. | 41 |
| 40. | Cup lacking a stem; growing on logs or stumps. | 42 |
| 41. | Growing on twigs of willows; spores 12.5-16 µ long; paraphyses not septate. | Hymenoscyphus conscriptum |
| 41. | Growing on twigs of other hardwoods; spores 16-24 µ long; paraphyses septate. | |
| 42. | Cup 1-3 mm across; paraphyses with hyaline contents. | |
| 42. | Cup .5-1.5 mm across; paraphyses filled with yellow droplets. | |
| 43. | Tips of asci bluing in Melzer's reagent or IKI. | 44 |
| 43. | Tips of asci not bluing in iodine mounts. | 46 |
| 44. | Spores smooth, without oil droplets; upper surface brown, often wrinkled near the center; undersurface whitish and minutely fuzzy; cup usually flattening out with maturity. | |
| 44. | Spores roughened or nearly reticulate. | 45 |
| 45. | Appearing in late spring or early summer in temperate areas; spores roughened but not reticulate, often developing smooth caps at each end. | |
| 45. | Appearing in late summer and fall in temperate areas; spores nearly reticulate, not developing smooth caps at each end. | |
| 46. | This portion of the key is not yet developed . . . | |
| 47. | Cup bright red; collector admits it could have been growing from buried wood, and only appeared to be "terrestrial." | 36 |
| 47. | Cup not bright red; truly terrestrial. | 48 |
| 48. | Cup yellow or orange overall. | 49 |
| 48. | Cup otherwise colored. | 52 |
| 49. | Margin of cup bruising and discoloring bluish to greenish; commonly collected from the Rocky Mountains westward in spring or early summer (rare or absent in eastern North America). | |
| 49. | Not completely as above. | 50 |
| 50. | Cup bright orange; not usually split down one side or appearing truncated (chopped off); spores warted; paraphyses with rounded ends. | |
| 50. | Cup dull orange or dull yellow; usually split down one side and/or appearing truncated; spores smooth; paraphyses with hooked ends. | 51 |
| 51. | Cup usually split down one side (often appearing like an erect rabbit ear) but not appearing truncated; inner surface usually with pinkish hints; spores 12-14 x 6-7 µ. | |
| 51. | Cup sometimes split down one side, but usually appearing truncated (almost never appearing like an erect rabbit ear); inner surface without pinkish tints; spores 14-16 x 7-9 or 9-11 x 5.5-6.5 µ. | |
| 52. | Cup split down one side, appearing somewhat like a rabbit ear standing erect. | 53 |
| 52. | Cup not shaped as above. | 56 |
| 53. | Outer surface brown; inner surface orangish to pinkish or reddish; growing under hardwoods in eastern North America; spores 35-40 µ long. | |
| 53. | Not completely as above. | 54 |
| 54. | Spores with one large oil droplet. | |
| 54. | Spores with 2 or more oil droplets. | 55 |
| 55. | This portion of the key is not yet developed; it consists of brownish species of Otidea (in the sense of Kanouse, 1949). For a few commonly collected species, see Otidea onotica and Otidea alutacea. | |
| 56. | Cup growing partially underground in sand dunes and on beaches; tips of asci bluing in Melzer's reagent or IKI; spores smooth, 14-16 x 10 µ. | |
| 56. | Not completely as above. | 57 |
| 57. | Flesh brittle, when crushed exuding a juice that turns yellow on exposure to air (staining your fingers, the surfaces of the cup, or white paper). | |
| 57. | Crushed flesh not exuding a yellow staining juice. | 58 |
| 58. | Tips of asci bluing in Melzer's reagent or IKI. | 59 |
| 58. | Tips of asci not bluing in Melzer's reagent or IKI. | 63 |
| 59. | Spores roughened or nearly reticulate. | 60 |
| 60. | Mature cup 3-8 cm across; appearing in late summer and fall in temperate areas; spores nearly reticulate, not developing smooth caps at each end. | |
| 60. | Not completely as above. | 61 |
| 61. | Mature cup 3-10 cm across; appearing in late spring or early summer in temperate areas; spores roughened but not reticulate, often developing smooth caps at each end. | |
| 61. | Not completely as above. | 62 |
| 62. | This portion of the key is not yet developed . . . | |
| 63. | Paraphyses with granular orangish to yellowish orange or red contents in a 2% KOH mount (cup-like species of Gyromitra). | 64 |
| 63. | Paraphyses not as above. | 67 |
| 64. | Spores in a water mount with blunt apiculi that feature "scooped-out" ends. | |
| 64. | Spores in a water mount without apiculi or with pointed to blunt apiculi that do not appear scooped out. | 65 |
| 65. | Found in the Pacific Northwest; spores with two prominent oil droplets, 10-14.5 x 7-9.5 µ, very finely warted, lacking apiculi. | Gyromitra melaleucoides |
| 65. | Variously distributed; spores primarily with one prominent oil droplet (sometimes with 2-3 droplets), much longer than above, usually appearing smooth with light microscopy, with or without prominent apiculi. | 66 |
| 66. | Apiculi of mature spores pointed. | |
| 66. | Apiculi absent or, if present, broadly rounded. | Gyromitra olympiana |
| 67. | Cup deep, with a ragged or lacerated upper margin; outer surface two-toned: grayish brown above, but whitish toward the base; base indistinct, vaguely pinched and ribbed. | |
| 67. | Not completely as above. | 68 |
| 68. | Spores with homogeneous contents; mature cup often very wrinkled or veined, at least centrally. | |
| 68. | Not completely as above. | 69 |
| 69. | Spores smooth and elliptical, with 2 oil droplets in a KOH mount; flesh pale; cups .5-4 cm across, usually remaining deeply cup-shaped throughout development; often with a rudimentary pseudo-stem (usually buried in the soil). | 70
(Tarzetta s.l.) |
| 69. | Not completely as above. | 73 |
| 70. | Cup surfaces bright pink; usually growing in recently burned areas. | Rhodotarzetta rosea
= Tarzetta rosea |
| 70. | Cup surfaces not pink; usually growing in non-burned areas. | 71 |
| 71. | Mature cup under 2 cm across; paraphyses with rounded, subclavate, or subacute apices (not lobed or hydra-like). | |
| 71. | Mature cup larger than above (2-4 cm across); paraphyses developing irregularly lobed or hydra-like tips. | 72 |
| 72. | Pseudo-stem usually present; paraphyses becoming irregularly lobed but not hydra-like; spores 20-24 µ long. | |
| 72. | Pseudo-stem usually absent; paraphyses becoming irregularly lobed and developing hydra-like tips; heterosporous (spores falling into two size groups: 20-24 µ long and 12-14 µ long). | |
| 73. | This portion of the key is not yet developed . . . | |
References
[For references for Gyromitra, Helvella, and Sarcoscypha, see the reference lists on the linked pages.]
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Cite this page as:
Kuo, M. (2012, October). Cup fungi. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/cups.html
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