Green Elfcup - Chlorociboria aeruginascens agg.

Chlorociboria aeruginascens is a beautiful blue-green cup fungus. The cups can be stalked or unstalked and are 2 to 6 mm in diameter. It is more common to see the green stained wood than to actually see the fruiting bodies. We have treated this species as an aggregate because Chlorociboria aeruginascens and the similar but much rarer Chlorociboria aeruginosa can only be separated by microscopic examination.

Chlorociboria aeruginosa

On fallen branches of deciduous trees, especially oak.

Mainly autumn, but occasionally seen at other times throughout the year.

The mycelium growing through the wood stains it conspicuously blue-green.

Widespread and fairly frequent in Britain.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland, although exact data is difficult to obtain due to difficulty of identification.