Pseudoplectania nigrella
Ebony Cup
Names
English Name: Ebony Cup
(other scientific names include Crovania nigrella, Peziza nigrella and Plectania nigrella)
This beautiful and distinct ascomycete forms black cups usually on fallen, mossy conifer wood or needle litter (more information on the divisions within the kingdom). The cups are matt (woolly) black/dark brown on the outside, usually a lovely shiny black on the inside and can grow up to 3cm across although often smaller. The cups are not supported on stems and will grow either singly or in groups – if you find one though, it is always worth looking around to see if there are others nearby.
According to Wikipedia (research papers are quoted) this fungus produces a unique chemical compound, plectasin, which has been found to inhibit the growth of the human pathogenic bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Fruiting
Records of this species are widespread, occurring as far apart as North Sutherland and the New Forest, but rare in the UK. Given that this is a distinctive species with most records from conifer plantations, the paucity of records is perhaps surprising. At the site that I am familiar with on Mar Lodge, the species has fruited in the same area every year since 2004, so it is not a species that only fruits once in the blue moon! Maybe the distribution is genuinely scattered or maybe folk just aren’t looking in the right places at this time of the year – its dark colour does make it hard to spot.
By Liz Holden
Habitat
Most records in Scotland are given as coming from fallen, mossy conifer wood in plantations.
Distribution
Widespread but rare in the UK. The total number of sites for this species on the Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland is 6 (since 1960) and 5 of these are in Scotland. The species is however, widely distributed across the planet and considered to be quite common in North America and some parts of Scandinavia. See NBN distribution map, but note this may not have been updated since 2007.
Pseudoplectania nigrella not fully expanded