Chlorociboria aeruginascens Kanouse ex Ramamurthi

Blue stain fungus, green elfcup, green wood cup, blue

About plant names...

Turquoise-colored mushrooms? How cool is that? I’ve been looking for these for several years, and although I have often found the mycelium on wood—a blue-green stain—I have seen the fruiting bodies only twice, on Mt. Watatic and Oak Hill, both in Massachusetts. Returning to one of the places where I had seen the mycelium, the wood had been removed, apparently by someone who recognizes its wood carving value. It is used in creating intarsia, an inlaying process using tiny, thin veneers similar to parquetry. So I am grateful to Amanda Felegie for sending in the photo she took at Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania.

Identification: This fungus appears on decayed hardwood, principally oak, spreading deep into the wood. It has small cup-shaped asocarps attached to the wood by a stemlike base called the stipe. The fruiting bodies rarely exceed ¾" (1.9 cm) in size. The fruiting bodies appear only on wood that is decayed enough to be free of bark. Michael Kuo’s site, MushroomExpert.com, points out that these could be either Chlorociboria aeruginascens or Chlorociboria aeruginosa. The only way to differentiate between them is by comparing the spore size, which are a microscopic 5-8 µm by 0.7-2.8 µm, smaller than those of C. aeruginosa.

Online References:

Chlorociboria aeruginascens on Wikipedia

Chlorociboria aeruginascens on Michael Kuo's MushroomExpert.com

Chlorociboria aeruginascens on Tom Volk's Fungi site, at the Department of Biology at the University of Wisconsin

8/17/2014 · Bald Mountain, Franconia Notch Area, White Mountains, New Hamp­shire
≈ 10 × 7" (25 × 16 cm)

6/7/2015 · Oak Hill, Tophet Chasm Trail, Littleton, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 6 × 4" (15 × 10 cm)

4/6/2015 · Ricketts Glen State Park, Benton, Penn­syl­vania · By Amanda Felegie

10/12/2014 · Mt. Watatic, Ashby, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 4½ × 3½" (11 × 9.4 cm) ID is uncertain

5/3/2014 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 31 × 21" (79 × 53 cm) ID is uncertain

10/12/2014 · Mt. Watatic, Ashby, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 5 × 3" (12 × 8.4 cm) ID is uncertain

7/31/2021 · Long Reach Preserve, Harpswell, Maine
≈ 3½ × 6" (9.4 × 14 cm)

Chlorociboria aeruginascens description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 6 Sep 2021.

© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.

5/3/2014 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 31 × 21" (79 × 53 cm) ID is uncertain

4/29/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 6 × 4½" (15 × 11 cm)

8/17/2014 · Bald Mountain, Franconia Notch Area, White Mountains, New Hamp­shire
≈ 10 × 7" (25 × 16 cm)

5/3/2014 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 31 × 21" (79 × 53 cm) ID is uncertain

5/21/2014 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 7 × 4½" (18 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

5/21/2014 · Beaver Brook Assn Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 7 × 4½" (18 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

8/1/2015 · Andres Art Institute, Big Bear Mountain
≈ 7 × 5" (16 × 12 cm)

4/8/2021 · Long Reach Preserve, Harpswell, Maine
≈ 5 × 3½" (13 × 8.7 cm)

8/1/2015 · Andres Art Institute, Big Bear Mountain
≈ 7 × 5" (16 × 12 cm)