Scarlet Cup

[Bruce Murden]

This interesting find is the Scarlet Cup Fungus. I found some this week while on the ground photographing trillium in Maybury State Park, on the outskirts of the suburbs of Detroit (where the suburbs become honest rural land!). It was the first time I was conscious of this beautiful fungus, and had to make some images. I decided it looked better with the leaves and small twigs cleared away, showing on the the fungus on the dead branch pieces. The largest cup here was just over 2 cm across.

On my Macbook Pro monitor, this post is a little faded / flat, but on my more-recently calibrated external LCD, this pic has the punch I wanted. I hope you're seeing it as lively as I did!

Nikon D80, Nikkor 105mm macro, 1/2 sec, f/40, of course a tripod!, cloudy morning.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Wow Bruce, have never seen this one before. They remind me of reversed orange peels. Such a bright & vibrant looking Fungi. Are they rooted on those branches ? Well seen and photographed.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Bruce, these look like pieces from a ball that broke apart. Interesting color and nice details.

[Julie Kenward]

I can't wait to get out in the woods around here and see what kind of fungi are growing after all the spring rain we've had. This has me really itching to go now!

Amazing color on this one...and I love the way it's all just in pieces lying around. You did a great job of cleaning up the scene but leaving it look like it was still in its natural environment. Nothing is distracting - it all works perfectly.

[Bruce Murden]

Thanks all! Kaushik, these fungi are rooted to the branches. I don't know if they prefer branches to other dead vegetation, but that's where I found these. Thank heavens for so much info on the internet, so I could identify them when I got home.

[Stephen Stephen]

Bruce, good image here. I've seen other cup fungi before but nothing like this. The branches and soil have so little colour that it almost looks as if you coverted them to B&W and just left the fungi with colour.

Thanks for sharing.

Stephen