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Common eyelash fungus

Common eyelash fungus ©Dr Malcolm Storey

Common eyelash fungus

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Scientific name: Scutellinia scutellata
The diminutive common eyelash fungus can be found on wet wood and humous-rich damp soil, often by streams or in wet places. Its orange cup is fringed with tiny, black hairs, providing its common name.

Top facts

Stats

Cup diameter: up to 1cm

Conservation status

Common.

When to see

June to November

About

The common eyelash fungus might be easily overlooked - this tiny cup fungus grows in damp places on rotting wood. Its scarlet-red, shallow cups have a distinctive fringe of black hairs that look just like eyelashes. Occasionally solitary, it is more often found in clusters. Fungi belong to their own kingdom and get their nutrients and energy from organic matter, rather than photosynthesis like plants. It is often just the fruiting bodies, or 'mushrooms', that are visible to us, arising from an unseen network of tiny filaments called 'hyphae'. These fruiting bodies produce spores for reproduction, although fungi can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation.

What to look for

The small, bright scarlet cups of the common eyelash fungus become flat with age; they are fringed with black 'lashes'.

Where to find

Widespread.

Habitats

Did you know?

There are several species of Scutellinia fungi that exist throughout globe. Here, specific species can be difficult to tell apart, particularly due to their tiny nature.