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Project Noah Nature School
Cookeina tricholoma
The fruiting body of this fungus is brilliant scarlet to yellow -- my spottings have included a variety of reds from peach and salmon to pinkish red and almost orange. The hairs on this specimen are sparkling white, and the mature cup is about the right size to stick the end of your finger in. In the first photo, the tiniest fungus is barely the size of a match head.
This fungus generally appears on wood which has just begun to decay. It makes a brilliant spot on the subtropical forest floor, not easy to miss.
Red color usually signifies poisonous characteristics, but Wikipedia notes that certain species of this fungus in Malaysia are reportedly used as food, and are sometimes rubbed against fishhooks as bait for fishing.
Spotted on Dec 27, 2013
Submitted on Jan 27, 2017
2 Comments
If you have a chance to travel in the subtropics/tropics, there's a good chance you will see it. I've spotted it in both Costa Rica and Belize on casual walks in the forest.
I would love to find this one day.