Pharyngula blog

P.Z. Myers is the author of the Pharyngula blog. Check it out at: www.pharyngula.com
Myers, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin at Morris, is a stalwart defender of science (and in particular of evolution), and a prolific blogger with lots of interesting things to say. He explains the origin of the word "pharyngula," so I won't.

The eyelash cup fungus

This little beauty is a fungus called Scutellinia scutellata. It's usually found on moist decaying wood, and can be a welcome splash of color in the duff-colored...well...duff.

The common name of this small fungus is the "eyelash cup." It's particularly well-named, as the hairlike growths around the margins of the cups do look a lot like eyelashes. The cups are about 2mm to 1.5 cm in diameter. The orange color results from the presence of carotene in the context of the sporocarp. This is one of the nicest groups of this fungus that I've seen in the woods.