Green Elfcup - Chlorociboria

Green Elfcup.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. Chlorociboria aeruginascens and Chlorociboria aeruginosa both produce simlar green cups and the two can only be separated by microscopic examination, (although Chlorociboria aeruginosa is by far the rarer of the two). For this reason we have treated the two species as an aggregate .

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.