cup fungus

American  

noun

1. any small, often brightly colored mushroom of the family Pezizaceae, characterized by a fruiting body resembling a cup.

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Etymology

Origin of cup fungus

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Here’s the structure of a typical cup fungus, like the orange cups on the cow pie.

From Scientific American • Sep. 5, 2012

But even better than the orange cup fungus on the cow pie was a special trick that the orange cup fungus on the cow pie could do.

From Scientific American • Sep. 5, 2012

This cup fungus produces a crop of spores capable of causing infection.

From Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 Embracing the Transactions of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society,Volume 44, from December 1, 1915, to December 1, 1916, Including the Twelve Numbers of "The Minnesota Horticulturist" for 1916 by Latham, A. W.

It is a very common and conspicuous Ascomycetous, or cup fungus, growing in clusters on rotten sticks that lie in moist places.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Hard, Miron Elisha

Not infrequently the spore fruits are to be met with flat discs of a reddish brown color, two or three millimetres in diameter, and closely resembling a small cup fungus.

From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton