Caloscypha fulgens

Sporocarp
Fruiting body 0.5-3.5 (5.0) cm broad, cupulate, elongate, to variously lobed, sometimes nearly flat in age, sessile to short stipitate; margin incurved, then straight, even to eroded; exterior surface dull yellow to yellowish-orange, bruising bluish-green to olive, especially near the margin; hymenial surface yellow-orange to orange, glabrous.

Spores
Spores 5.5-7.5 µm, globose, smooth, hyaline; spores whitish in deposit.

Habitat

Scattered, gregarious to clustered on needle mats during the spring in the Sierra and higher elevations of the Coast Range; common in most years.

Edibility
Unknown; insignificant.

Comments
A snowbank fungus, Caloscypha fulgens is distinguished by its yellowish-orange, variously-shaped cups which discolor bluish-green with handling or age. It resembles Aleuria aurantia, the Orange Peel Fungus, but the latter lacks a bluing reaction and typically fruits in the fall. White forms, but still bluing, are occasionally encountered. This is one of a number of Ascomycetes used by morel hunters as an indicator species.