Geopyxis carbonaria Alb. & Schwein.
Sylloge Fungorum 8: 71. 1889.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body urn to goblet shaped; apothecia 0.5-1.5 cm broad, deeply cupulate, not expanding; margin pallid, crenate, incurved to upturned; fertile surface dull orange-brown to reddish-brown, glabrous; external surface glabrous, dull-brown, fading to pale-buff; stipe 0.3-1.0 cm long, 1.0-2.0 mm thick, straight to curved, the surface dull-brown covered with a white tomentum.

• Spores

  Spores 13.5-18.5 x 6.0-9.5 µm, ellipsoid, some narrowly so, a few oblong, smooth, thin-walled, eguttulate, contents granular; spore deposit not seen.

• Habitat

  Gregarious to densely clustered on burnt soil or in campfire pits; fruiting during the spring in the Sierra Nevada and presumably also the Coast Ranges.

• Edibility

  Ediblility unknown; insignificant.

• Comments

  A distinctive goblet shape, crenate cup margin, and habit of growing in burned soil are hallmarks of this attractive Ascomycete. It often fruits in vast numbers along with other fire-associated cup fungi like Pyronema omphalodes, Peziza violacea, P. pratervisa, Anthracobia macrocystis, and Plicaria endocarpoides. Geopyxis vulcanalis differs in growing in soil (not burnt) under conifers, being more urn-shaped, with a yellowish fertile surface.

• References

  Breitenbach, J. & Kränzlin, F. (1984). Fungi of Switzerland. Volume 1: Ascomycetes. Verlag Mykologia: Luzern, Switzerland. 310 p.
  Dennis, R.W.G. (1981). British Ascomycetes. J. Cramer: Vaduz, Liechtenstein. 585 p.
  Medardi, G. (2006). Ascomiceti d'Italia. Centro Studi Micologici: Trento. 454 p.
  Seaver, F.J. (1978). The North American Cup-Fungi (Inoperculates). Lubrecht & Cramer: Monticello, N.Y. 428 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Ron Pastorino: Geopyxis carbonaria (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Geopyxis carbonaria (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Geopyxis carbonaria (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Geopyxis carbonaria (CP)
  • MycoSite: Geopyxis carbonaria (D & CP)
  • Na Grzyby: Geopyxis carbonaria (D & CP)
  • Schlauchpilze - Ascomycetes: Geopyxis carbonaria (D & CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Geopyxis carbonaria (CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (v. 1): sp. 100 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 38 ( D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 350 (D), pl. 627 (CP)
  • Tylutki (1979): p. 96 (D & CP)
  
  

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