Spring Hazelcup - Encoelia furfuracea

Click here to support NatureSpot by making a donation - small or large - your gift is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Alternative names
Peziza furfuracea
Description

A large cup fungus that bursts through the bark of Hazel branches in winter, often in clusters.  Initially the cups are tightly closed, showing only their scurfy pale brown exterior. In spring the cups open to reveal the smooth, orange-brown or tan interior, which is the spore-bearing fertile surface or hymenium.   Fully open cups are star-shaped.

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Photograph in habitat; note substrate and associated host species

Habitat

On attached Hazel stems, usually those that are dying but not yet dead.  Rarely Alder.

When to see it

Winter and Spring

  • Melinda Bell
    Calke,Southwood
    09 January 2023
  • Jane Hollingworth
    Tom Long's Meadow
    17 January 2026
  • Melinda Bell
    Swithland Wood
    12 January 2023
    emerging through bark
  • Melinda Bell
    Swithland Wood
    12 January 2023
    opening up to show fertile surface
  • Melinda Bell
    Swithland Wood
    12 January 2023
    nearest body approx 15mm across
  • Melinda Bell
    Loughborough,Burleigh Wood
    22 February 2025
  • David Nicholls
    Piper Wood, Shepshed
    15 April 2023
  • mttnx
    Great Merrible Wood
    14 March 2024
  • Catherine Horrell
    Southwood
    04 December 2025

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species data profile ?

Species profile

Common names
Spring Hazelcup
Species group:
fungus
Kingdom:
Fungi
Order:
Helotiales
Family:
Sclerotiniaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
16
First record:
09/01/2023 (Bell, Melinda)
Last record:
17/01/2026 (Hollingworth, Jane)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.

Latest images

Latest records

  • sue
    Sheet Hedges Wood
    14 February 2025
  • Melinda Bell
    Shepshed,Piper Wood
    15 April 2023
  • sue
    Sheet Hedges Wood
    14 February 2025
  • de la Zouch
    Staunton Harold
    26 January 2024
    Clusters on dead hazel.
  • sue
    Sheet Hedges Wood
    14 February 2025
  • de la Zouch
    Staunton Harold
    26 January 2024
    Most cups still closed and lip-shaped.
  • Melinda Bell
    Swithland Wood
    12 January 2023
    recently dead branch