Fungi can be found all year – and now is the time to look for Cedar Cups. More...

Cedar Cups, Geopora sumneriana, can be found in parks, gardens, churchyards and cemeteries.  Always associated with cedars, they live half buried in the soil and needle litter underneath the trees.  The outer sides of the cups are brown and fibrous, but in Spring, the cups open to reveal their smooth cream or pale grey inner surfaces, expanding into a star-shape up to 7cm across. These cup fungi are ascomycetes, and the smooth inner surface is the hymenium, or fertile surface; eventually the spores will be shot out of the cups, hopefully to make new colonies nearby. This fungus It is not common in Leicestershire and Rutland, but may be overlooked because of its unusual fruiting season. If you do find it, send us your records – and please remember to note that it was under Cedar; it helps if one of your photos shows it with its host tree.