Aleuria aurantia (Pers. ex Hook.) Fuckel

Common name: Orange Peel Fungus.

Description: This ascomycete forms cups which are bright orange or reddish orange and up to 7 cm in diameter. The cups grow directly on the ground and there is no stem. As they age, they become somewhat distorted and wavy at the margins but this can also occur if the cups are compressed when numbers of them grow together. The cup interior is smooth and dry. The texture is fleshy and brittle but quite thin.  

The spores measure 1416 × 710 µm and are ellipsoid with a reticulate ornamentation, colourless but white in mass.

Substratum: Usually directly on soil and gregarious among moss or litter; quite often the group of cups is so crowded that the pressure on each other is sufficient to distort the cups completely.

Distribution: Known from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Notes: This species is known from Europe and also from New Zealand.