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Ali Mckernan
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Ali Mckernan
Cedar cup
This fascinating cup fungus is a lovely thing to stumble upon -should you be lucky enough!
Enw gwyddonol
Geopora sumnerianaPryd i'w gweld
December to MayGwybodaeth am rywogaethau
Ystadegau
The cups are 4 - 7cm across when mature, and 5cm tallUncommon to occasional (possibly overlooked)
Cynefinoedd
Ynghylch
Forming partially buried little crowns in the ground, the cedar cup spends most of its time concealed as a sphere below ground, before bursting through the soil to reveal its star like rays.Sut i'w hadnabod
Although you're unlikely to mistake this for anything else, there are a couple of potential lookalikes of a similar ilk, though this is considerably larger. This thin fleshed fungus has a dark brown outer surface covered in very fine hairs, with the inside displaying a lovely pale cream colour. As it matures, the rim splits into a number of rays (between 5 and 8) to create a crown like effect. Most significantly, this grows almost exclusively with cedar, so if that's what you happen to be stood beneath whilst staring at these, then you've got yourself a cedar cup!Dosbarthiad
Widespread but occasional.Roeddech chi yn gwybod?
This particular fungus is an 'Ascomycete', meaning it shoots its spores out from the inside surface. You can sometimes visibly see this if you puff on a sheltered fruitbody. It will look as though the cup is smoking!Gwyliwch
cedar cups (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmeqNQm8J74)
Cedar cups with the FUNgi Guy