Aleuria cestrica

[ Ascomycota > Pezizales > Pyronemataceae > Aleuria . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Think of this as a miniature Aleuria aurantia, found in oak forests east of the Rocky Mountains. Like that species Aleuria cestrica is a bright orange cup fungus with beautifully reticulate spores. But it is substantially smaller, and its microscopic features, while otherwise similar, are also smaller. In both the width of the cup and the length of the spores Aleuria cestrica seems to leave off where Aleuria aurantia begins, so that the maximum values for the former species approximate the minimum values for the latter.

Orange species of Lachnellula are even smaller than Aleuria cestrica, and grow on deadwood.

Aleuria lloydiana is a synonym.

Description:

Ecology: Trophic role uncertain; possibly saprobic or mycorrhizal; growing gregariously on the ground under oaks and possibly other hardwoods, often in moss; late spring through fall; distributed in North America from the Great Plains eastward; also known from Central America and Europe. The illustrated and described collection is from Illinois.

Fruiting Body: Cup-shaped, becoming flattened with age; 2–5 mm across; without a stem.

Upper Surface: Bright orange when fresh, fading to brownish orange; bald.

Undersurface: Orange to pale orange; bald.

Flesh: Orangish; brittle.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6–10 x 3.5–5 µm (without ornamentation); ornamentation as a well-developed reticulum 1–2 µm high; developing polar apiculi 1–2.5 µm long; smooth and ellipsoid before maturity; hyaline in KOH; yellowish in Melzer's. Asci 100–125 µm long; 8-spored; tips inamyloid. Paraphyses 90–125 x 2–4 µm; filiform below subclavate, straight or slightly curved apices; septate; smooth; with orangish contents in KOH; hyaline in Melzer's.

REFERENCES: (Ellis & Everhardt, 1889) Seaver, 1928. (Seaver, 1928; Kramer, 1956; Svrček, 1974; Moravec, 1980; Haffner, 1993.) Herb. Kuo 06271401.

This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.

Spores

Paraphyses

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Kuo, M. (2020, January). Aleuria cestrica. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/aleuria_cestrica.html.