Description
The resemblance that Cyathus helenae bears to a miniature bird's nest with eggs is the source for its common name, bird's nest fungi. The fruiting body, or peridium, of C. helenae is obconic, that is, shaped roughly like an inverted cone. The upper third of the peridium is flared outwards sharply, and the opening is normally 5–6 mm wide, while the height of the fruiting body is 7 mm. The outer surface of the peridium, the ectoperidium, is pale brown to grey in color, and covered with clusters of fungal hyphae that resemble hairs. These hairs appear to be aggregated into clusters ("nodular"), and generally point downward. The inner surface of the peridium, the endoperidium, is smooth with a grey to silver and somewhat shiny surface. This inner surface also has faint but distinct vertical ridges, known as plications. Like many other Cyathus species, the cup is attached to its growing surface by a clump of mycelium called an emplacement; in C. helenae the diameter of the emplacement is typically wider than that of the peridium, and it often incorporates bits of "organic trash".
The 'eggs' of the bird's nest – the peridioles – are 2 mm in diameter, and covered with a silvery tunica (the outermost covering layer of the periodiole). Peridioles are attached to the fruiting body by a funiculus, a structure of hyphae that is differentiated into three regions: the basal piece, which attaches it to the inner wall of the peridium, the middle piece, and an upper sheath, called the purse, connected to the lower surface of the peridiole. In the purse and middle piece is a coiled thread of interwoven hyphae called the funicular cord, attached at one end to the peridiole and at the other end to an entangled mass of hyphae called the hapteron. The spores of C. helenae have a spherical or ovoid shape, with dimensions of 12–14 µm long by 15–19 µm wide. They tend to be slightly narrower at one end, and commonly have a spore wall thickness of 1.5 µm.
C. helenae is distinguished from the more common C. striatus by its faint inner-surface plication (C. striatus has a more pronounced plication), the nodular arrangement of the hairs on the outer surface, and microscopically by the spore shape – ellipsoid in C. striatus, ovoid or spheroidal in C. helenae.
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