Nesting Season

Day 109: I've found a lot of interesting things by deviating from well-used trails to follow what Kevin calls "bunny tracks," and despite the fact that occasionally my finds have been things I'd rather not have found (notably human ashes, and not just once), the "road less travelled" often brings me botanical discoveries. Yesterday was a good example of hitting paydirt. I had gone up an overgrown side path, ducking under arching blackberry vines, shielding myself from encroaching salmonberry branches and poky-sticks as I went in search of the cast-out snowdrops I'd seen previously. After finding them (they were not quite open yet), I turned to go back, and in the differently angled light, a twig bearing a dozen or so bird's-nest fungi caught my eye. It's "nesting season" for these, the time when the egg-like, spore-bearing peridioles are exposed and have not yet been washed from the cups by rain. The goblet-shaped cups of this species (Crucibulum laeve) are less than 9 mm in height, with each "egg" measuring less than 2 mm. As in the case here, the exterior of the cups can appear smooth; in the inset, a young, unopened cup still bears a slight fuzz on its upper portion. Closer examination of the peridioles will show that each is attached to the cup by a short cord. This cord serves to keep the egg from straying too far from the parent cup when it is washed out (the peridioles of other species of bird's-nest are not attached).