Scarlet Elfcup

Sarcoscypha austriaca – Inedible

Forest edges, forests, parks, bogs, groves, gardens. Spring (March).

An early spring fungus and harbinger. Cap 1-5 (6) cm across, shaped like a wide goblet, inside a beautiful orange-red, outside whitish, yellowish, as if mealy. Stem 1-3x0.3-0.5 cm, widening upwards, merging into the cap, whitish. Flesh thin, pinkish, without any particular smell or taste. Grows as soon as the snow has melted, singly or in groups, on branches and twigs of deciduous trees, sometimes even with one end submerged in water, in groves, small pine woods and thickets. Very common. Inedible, but with a wonderfully beautiful cap. Estonians mention that in some countries this fungus is eaten.