Cyathus striatus (Huds.) ex Pers.
Syn. Meth. Fung.: 237. 1801.

Common Name: Bird's Nest Fungus

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body cup-shaped, the base narrow, flaring upward, 0.5-1.0 cm tall, 0.4-0.8 cm broad, tough, persistent, the mouth covered with an evanescent, whitish, pubescent membrane; outer surface faintly grooved, shaggy with grey-brown to dark-brown hairs, in age matted to roughened; inner surface shiny-smooth, conspicuously grooved or ribbed; peridioles (eggs) light-grey to dark-grey, smooth, flattened, attached to the cup by a short, elastic cord (funiculus).

• Spores

  Spores 14-20 x 8-10 µm, elliptical, smooth; spores hyaline.

• Habitat

  Scattered to clustered on sticks, wood chips, and other woody debris; fruiting from mid to late winter.

• Edibility

  Unknown. Too tough and small to be of culinary value.

• Comments

  The combination of a shaggy outer cup surface and a conspicuously striate inner surface make it unlikely to confuse Cyathus striatus with any other bird's nest. Cyathus olla and C. stercoreus resemble it but lack the striate feature.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Taylor F. Lockwood: Cyathus striatus (CP)
  • Na Grzyby: Cyathus striatus (D & CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 2): sp. 496 (D, I, & CP)
  • Brodie: p. 173 (D), fig. 61a (P)
  • Jordan: p. 363 (D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 828 (D), plate 632 (CP)
  • Miller: sp. 345 (D)
  • Phillips: p. 288 (D), p. 289 (CP)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)