Peziza arvernensis
The fairy tub fungus, Peziza arvernensis Boud.
Photo source: Czech Wikipedia
Aleuria silvestris Boud.
Galactinia sylvestris (Boud.) Svrček
Peziza silvestris (Boud.) Sacc. & Traverso
Peziza sylvestris (Boud.) Sacc. & Trotter
Brown cup fungus
Fairy tub
Woodland cup
Many members of the genus Peziza look outwardly similar, so identification and verification of microscopic features is usually required for epithet identification with any degree of certainty.
Apothecia: solitary, sessile, cupulate, externally whitish, nearly smooth or minutely pustulate, the margin slightly wavy, 3-10 cm diameter, often irregular in outline, eventually spreading; margin incurved, then upright, finally level to recurved, crenate to lacerate; hymenium concave, even to wrinkled or furrowed, glabrous, light brown to chestnut-brown; exterior surface white to ash-grey, finely tomentose to furfuraceous; context thin, brittle, colored like the surface; odor and taste mild.
Spores: uniseriate, smooth, 16-20 x 9-11 µm, ellipsoid.
Spore deposit: white.
Habitat: scattered to clustered on rotting wood, sawdust, or near decaying wood chips; fruiting throughout the mushroom season; widely distributed and common.
Edibility: inedible.
A unique hemagglutinating lectin has been isolated from Peziza arvernensis (as P. sylvestris; Wang et al., 2005). This lectin, determined to be a single-chain protein (MW=20 kDa) bears only minimal N-terminal resemblance to other mushroom lectins. Interesting features of the P. arvernensis lectin:
- hemagglutinating activity of the lectin inhibited by arabinose
- hemagglutinating activity reduced in the presence of 0.05 M NaOH or 0.025 M HCl
- hemagglutinating activity reduced when temperature>35°C
Web
The mushroom observer site has a good selection of pictures.
There's a lot of supplementary information on this French page, and the Mushroom Expert is, as usual, another good source of additional information.
References
Wang HX, Ng TB.
First report of an arabinose-specific fungal lectin.
Biochem Biophys Res Comm. 2005 337(2): 621-5.
Last modified: 01-Aug-2008
March 1st, 2011 at 1:01 am
In the many years I spent as a surveyor in the timber preservation industry and certified by IWSc I came across Peziza regularly. My observations based on those mainly structural surveys and under the heading habitat would be that the fruiting bodies are invariably found close to masonry and usually on or in the vicinity of bathrooms/showers and therefore soap. Actually I was quite convinced that soap in whatever ford was a major contributor to the germination and growth of Peziza. Now retired and wooded areas on a daily basis I have seen Peziza in other habitats.
Derek Clauson. MIWSc
The Blackheath Practice