The scarlet cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea) is a mushroom that grows mainly in winter and early spring on fallen twigs of broadleaf trees.
The scarlet cup is small cup of 0.5 – 3.5 cm in diameter made of thin walls of a scarlet red colour -hence the specific adjective coccinea – more intense on the inner than on the outer side and with whitish edge. At the bottom of the cup there is a foot connecting the mushroom to the substrate. The bright red colour attracts flying insects that will involuntarily disperse the spores.
The cup shape is very characteristic of mushrooms of the order Pezizales from the division Ascomycota, the largest one in the kingdom of fungi.
[photo Elisa Altimiras]