On the Wildside with Ian Rotherham: The beautiful Green Elf Cup

From Autumn though winter around September to February local woodlands have a wealth of sometimes understated, overlooked fungi. However, on a walk through a park or wood then you might think somebody has been daubing pieces of deadwood with a turquoise paint. But on closer inspection the distinctive greenish blue almost glowing colour is a mass of tiny toadstools i.e., a fungus. This pigmentation is due to a unique and rather enchanting mushroom called the Green Elf Cup or Chlorociboria aeruginascens. Other common names include Green Elf Cap, Green Wood Cup, Green Stain Fungus, Blue Stain Fungus, and Turquoise Elf Cup. This beautiful, tiny fungus, is commonly found on decomposing wood from deciduous trees in woods, parks and gardens. Indeed, there are few green mushrooms in the fungus world and there are no others like these unique little cups. On close inspection the tiny mushrooms are attached to the dead, rotting wood by a very short stem with their cups flattened out as they age like small discs. The stained wood is relatively common to find but the actual fruit-body mushrooms are less so.