Sarcoscypha coccinea

Sarcoscypha coccinea

Sarcoscypha coccinea is a species of fungus in the family Sarcos Cyphaceae of the order Pezizales. The species was originally named Helvella cocCinea by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word for “deep” or “scarlet”

About Sarcoscypha coccinea in brief

Summary Sarcoscypha coccineaSarcoscypha coccinea is a species of fungus in the family Sarcos Cyphaceae of the order Pezizales. The cup-shaped fruit bodies are usually produced during the cooler months of winter and early spring. The fungus has been used medicinally by the Oneida Native Americans, and also as a colorful component of table decorations in England. The species was originally named Helvella cocCinea by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word for “deep” or “scarlet” The species is commonly known as the scarlet elf cup or the varbida albida. It has a cream-colored interior rather than a bright red surface, but is otherwise identical to the typical Scoccinea. The saprobic fungus grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp spots on forest floors, generally buried under leaf litter or in the soil. It is also found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. The type species of the genus is S.  cocinea, which was first explicitly designated as such in 1931 by Frederick Clements and Cornelius Lott Shear. S. jurana was described as a variety of the species having a more orange-colored fruit body, with flattened or blunt ascended ascospores, in 1903.

Today it is known as S juranea, which is a distinct species with a flattened or flattened ascospended fruit body and a bright orange-coloured interior. It was given its current name by Jean Baptiste Émil Lambotte in 1889. Phylogenetic analysis shows the species to be most closely related to other SarcOScypha species that contain numerous small oil droplets in their spores, such as the North Atlantic island species S  macaronesica. The edibility of the fruit bodies is not clearly established, but its small size, tough texture and insubstantial fruitings would dissuade most people from collecting for the table. It can be found in the wild in Europe, Africa, North America, Asia and Australia, and in the Pacific Ocean. The genus name Sarcocepha had been used previously by Carl F. P. von Martius as the name of a tribe in the genus Peziza; according to the rules of Botanical Nomenclature, this meant that the generic name PeZiza had priority over Sarcscypha. To address the taxonomical dilemma, the genus name was conserved against Peziza, with S Coccinea as the type species, to avoid creation of a new generic name.