Ciboria amentacea

Description

Ciboria amentacea is a species of ascomycete fungus in the family Sclerotiniaceae. It is cup-shaped, saucer-shaped with age, smooth inside, beige, gray-brown, dull outside, and one-color, pale brown mushroom.

Distribution is widespread in Europe and North America, where it grows on catkins of willow and alder. The species was first described by Giovanni Battista Balbis in 1804 as Peziza amentacea. Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb Leopold Fuckel transferred it to Ciboria in 1870.

Common names: Catkin Cup.

Mushroom Identification

1. Fruiting Bodies

   0.5–1 cm in diameter, initially cup-shaped, goblet-shaped or funnel-shaped, later saucer-shaped, on a stem. The hymenial layer is smooth, beige, or gray-brown, located on the inner surface of the cup. The outer surface is sterile, matte, and pale brown.

2. Stem

   The stem is 1-4 cm high, 0.2-1 mm in diameter, cylindrical, narrowed to the base, curved, smooth, brown or dark brown, and blackish at the base.

3. Flesh

   The flesh is thin, dense, brown, and without a pronounced smell.

4. Asci

   90-130 * 7-10 μm, cylindrical.

5. Spores

   8-12 * 4-5.5 μm, egg-shaped.

6. Spore Print

   Yellowish.

7. Habitat

   It grows from mid-April to mid-May, in deciduous and mixed forests, on last year's fallen rings of sticky alder, aspen, hazel, willow, sometimes on the remains of herbaceous plants, in wet weather, singly and in groups.

Synonyms

1. Peziza amentacea Balb., 1804

2. Peziza julacea Pers., 1822

3. Rutstroemia amentacea (Balb.) P.Karst. (1871)

4. Hymenoscyphus amentaceus (Balb.) W. Phillips, 1887

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Björn S. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Andreas Kunze (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Dendrofil (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 4 - Author: German.Basidiomycetes (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 5 - Author: Robert Kozak (CC BY-SA 3.0)