Description
Species in the genus Cyathus have fruit bodies (peridia) that are vase-, trumpet- or urn-shaped with dimensions of 4–8 mm wide by 7–18 mm tall. Fruit bodies are brown to gray-brown in color, and covered with small hair-like structures on the outer surface. Some species, like C. striatus and C. setosus, have conspicuous bristles called setae on the rim of the cup. The fruit body is often expanded at the base into a solid rounded mass of hyphae called an emplacement, which typically becomes tangled and entwined with small fragments of the underlying growing surface, improving its stability and helping it from being knocked over by rain.
Immature fruit bodies have a whitish membrane, an epiphragm, that covers the peridium opening when young, but eventually dehisces, breaking open during maturation. Viewed with a microscope, the peridium of Cyathus species is made of three distinct layers—the endo-, meso-, and ectoperidium, referring to the inner, middle, and outer layers respectively. While the surface of the ectoperidium in Cyathus is usually hairy, the endoperidial surface is smooth, and depending on the species, may have longitudinal grooves (striations).
Because the basic fruit body structure in all genera of the Nidulariaceae family is essentially similar, Cyathus may be readily confused with species of Nidula or Crucibulum, especially older, weathered specimens of Cyathus that may have the hairy ectoperidium worn off. It distinguished from Nidula by the presence of a funiculus, a cord of hyphae attaching the peridiole to the endoperidium. Cyathus differs from genus Crucibulum by having a distinct three-layered wall and a more intricate funiculus.
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