Pixie Cup

Geopyxis carbonaria

Old burnt areas and bonfire sites, forests, parks. From spring to late autumn.

Fruiting bodies tiny, 1-2 cm across, trumpet- or horn-shaped when young, later shaped like a deep cup, gradually tapering at the base; brown, yellowish-brown, the colour of a nutshell, the margin as if white-encrusted, as though with clipped eyelashes. Characteristic features: margin of the fruiting body as if encrusted, grows only on burnt ground. Grows in groups. Uncommon. Very similar is Tarzetta cupularis, but it is paler, cream-coloured, and grows on damp soil in forests, parks and shrublands.