Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CLXXXIII · Topic 27: Mushrooms, molds and bacteria
183. The scarlet saucer
Goal: Your child can find a scarlet cup fungus in early spring, describe it and try to catch its spores.
You'll need
- A scarlet cup on its stick, if you find one
- White paper
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
A short lesson: a lovely description of the little scarlet cups found on rotting sticks in early spring woods, then five observations.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Early spring, about the time the first wildflowers (hepaticas) bloom and snow still lies on north slopes. Look on fallen, rotting sticks half buried in old leaves. Several may grow on one stick.
Read the description
The inside of the saucer is the most exquisite scarlet shading to crimson. This crimson lining bears the spores in little sacs all over its surface.
Observe
Where did you find the fungus?
What is the shape of the saucer? How large is it? Is it regular and beautiful or irregular and distorted?
What is the color inside?
What is the color outside?
A spore harvest
If you bring one home on its stick:
Turn the one you bring in bottom side up—that is, scarlet side down—on a piece of white paper, and see whether you can get a spore harvest.
Afterward, put the stick back in the woods.
Nature notebook
Paint or color the saucer in its true red. Write the date: it tells you when spring has truly begun in your woods. Wash hands; fungi are not for tasting.