An "enormous" form of Cyathus olla, Cyathus olla f. anglicus, measures up to 2 cm high and 1.5 cm across; it is recorded from Oregon and Alberta.
Description:
Ecology: Saprobic; growing scattered, gregariously, or in dense clusters; sometimes growing terrestrially, but often found on woody debris; frequently encountered on dead plant stems, including corn husks in cornfields and debris in canola fields; summer and fall; widely distributed in North America.
Nest: 8–15 mm high; 6–10 mm wide; cup-shaped or goblet-shaped; outer surface brownish to grayish, bald or minutely hairy to velvety (but not conspicuously hairy); inner surface bald and shiny, silvery gray to blackish; "lid" typically whitish to pale grayish, soon disappearing; outer edge flared open widely by maturity, frequently broadly wavy.
Eggs: To 3 or 4 mm wide; round to somewhat irregular in outline; usually somewhat flattened; gray to gray-brown or nearly black; sheathed; attached to the nest by cords.
Microscopic Features: Spores 10–14 x 6–8 µm; ovate to ellipsoid; smooth.
REFERENCES: (Batsch, 1783) Persoon, 1801. (Brodie, 1975; Phillips, 1991/2005; Barron, 1999; McNeil, 2006.)
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