Chlorociboria aeruginosa

What You Should Know

Chlorociboria aeruginosa is an inedible saprobic species of mushroom. It has small, green, saucer-shaped fruit bodies. Although the actual fruit bodies are infrequently seen, the green staining of wood caused by the fungus is more prevalent.

Wood infected with fungis has long been used to decorate wood products such as Tunbridge utensils. In Italy, the practice dates back to at least the 14th century, when it was used for "intarsia," a marquetry very similar to the art of inlay.

Other names: Green Elfcup, Green Wood Cup, Blue Stain, Green Stain, Blue-Green Wood Stain.

Chlorociboria aeruginosa Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic on well-decayed, barkless logs and sticks, including those of both hardwoods and conifers; evident as green-stained wood year-round, but the fruiting bodies typically appear in summer and fall; widely distributed in North America.

2. Fruiting Body

   Cup-shaped at first, becoming flattened or disc-shaped; 2-5 mm across; with a tiny stem (1-2 mm long) that may be central or somewhat off-center; upper surface bald, blue-green; undersurface similar.

3. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

4. Spore print

   White.

5. Microscopic Features

   Spores 6-8 x 1-2 µ; subfusiform to nearly cylindric; smooth; biguttulate with a small oil droplet near each end. Paraphyses filiform; 70-80 x 1 µ; apices subacute; hyaline. Terminal cells on excipular surface cylindric; often twisted or contorted; 1-1.5 µ wide; smooth.

Chlorociboria aeruginosa Look-Alikes

1. Chlorociboria aeruginascens

   Very similar, can only be definitively separated by microscopic examination of the spore size.

2. Bulgaria inquinans

   Several darker species of cup-like ascomycetes were found in similar habitats.

Chlorociboria aeruginosa Taxonomy and Etymology

The species was described in 1822 and given the scientific name Peziza aeruginosa and established its basionym.

In 1957 American mycologists CS Ramamurthi placed it in the genus Chlorociboria.

The specific epithet aeruginosa comes from Latin and means copper oxide or patina - a blue-green discoloration is seen on the surface of "rusted" (oxidized) copper. Some authors have used a variant spelling of the specific epithet, aeruginescens.

Chlorociboria aeruginosa Synonyms

1. Peziza aeruginosa Vahl

2. Chlorosplenium aeruginosum (Oeder) De Not

3. Chlorosplenium discoideum Massee

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: donovanroberts (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)

Photo 2 - Author: Holger Krisp (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

Photo 3 - Author: donovanroberts (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)

Photo 4 - Author: donovanroberts (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)

Photo 5 - Author: Jymm (Public Domain)