Scutellinia scutellata
species of fungus
Scutellinia scutellata, commonly known as the eyelash pixie cup, eyelash cup, the Molly eye-winker, the scarlet elf cap, the eyelash fungus or the eyelash pixie cup, is a small saprophytic fungus in the family Pyronemataceae. It is the type species of Scutellinia, as well as being the most common and widespread. The fruiting bodies are small red cups with distinctive long, dark hairs or "eyelashes". These eyelashes are the most distinctive feature and are easily visible with a magnifying glass.
The species is common in North America and Europe, and has been recorded on every continent. It is found on rotting wood and in other damp habitats, typically growing in small groups, sometimes forming clusters. It is sometimes described as inedible, with its small size also rendering it of no culinary interest. Despite this, it is popular among mushroom hunters due to its unusual "eyelash" hairs, making it memorable and easy to identify.
Taxonomy
Scutellinia scutellata was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum as Peziza scutellata, and it was given its current name by Jean Baptiste Émil Lambotte in Memoires societe royale des sciences de Liege in 1887. It was also named Patella scutellata in 1902.
“Scutellinia scutellata” enters the record as species of fungus. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Scutellinia, scutellata and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q651422. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1753, 1887 and 1902.
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This entry incorporates text from “Scutellinia scutellata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.