''Aleuria aurantia'' (orange peel fungus) is a widespread ascomycete

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

in the order

Pezizales The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white tr ...

. The brilliant orange, cup-shaped

ascocarp An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are m ...

s often resemble orange peels strewn on the ground, giving this species its

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

Taxonomy

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1 February 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a German mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, the third child of an immig ...

described the orange peel as ''Peziza aurantia'' in 1800. The specific epithet is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''aurantia'' "orange".

Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb Leopold Fuckel Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb Leopold Fuckel (3 February 1821 – 8 May 1876) was a German botanist who worked largely on fungi. He worked as an apothecary from 1836 to 1852, afterwards deriving income from a vineyard he owned in Oestrich im Rheingau.< ...

placed it the genus '' Aleuria'' in 1870.

Description

The orange

fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

is 2–10 cm wide, cup-shaped, often misshapen due to crowding from other fruiting bodies. The

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

are colorless and scatter in visible clouds when disturbed. It is generally regarded as edible, though difficult to collect intact and not necessarily choice, with no particularly notable North American lookalikes. In Europe, the orange peel may be confused with species of '' Otidea'' or '' Caloscypha'' which are poisonous or of unknown edibility. Similar species include ''

Caloscypha fulgens ''Caloscypha'' is a fungal genus in the family Caloscyphaceae (order Pezizales). A monotypic genus, it contains the single species ''Caloscypha fulgens'', commonly known as the spring orange peel fungus, the golden cup, or the dazzling cup. It ...

'', ''

Sarcoscypha coccinea ''Sarcoscypha coccinea'', commonly known as the scarlet elf cup, scarlet elf cap, or the scarlet cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcoscyphaceae of the order Pezizales. The fungus, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, has be ...

'', ''Sowerbyella rhenana'', and members of '' Otidea'' and ''

Peziza ''Peziza'' is a large genus of saprophytic cup fungi that grow on the ground, rotting wood, or dung. Most members of this genus are of unknown edibility and are difficult to identify as separate species without use of microscopy. The polyphyleti ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

The orange peel fungus grows on bare clay or disturbed soil throughout North America and Europe. It has also been found in the south of Chile. ''Aleuria aurantia'' fruits mainly in late summer and autumn. Aleuria_aurantia_1

Taxonomy

Description

Distribution and habitat

References

Further reading