A tiny turquoise cup fungus on barkless, well-decayed wood. Its mycelium produces xylindein, a blue-green naphthoquinone pigment that stains the wood; the stained wood is visible year-round, while the fruit bodies are seen mainly in summer and fall. The stained wood, called green oak, has been used in decorative woodwork since at least 15th-century Italian intarsia and later in Tunbridge ware.
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Habitat
Saprobic on well-decayed, barkless logs and sticks of hardwoods and conifers, especially oak. Fruits in summer and fall.
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Widespread in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, Central America and South America.
Characteristics
Fruiting body: cup-shaped, becoming flattened or disc-like, 1-15 mm across, on a tiny central or off-centre stem 2-4 mm long. Upper surface: bald, turquoise. Outer surface: bald or finely scurfy, slightly paler. Flesh: insubstantial; odor not distinctive. Wood: stained blue-green. Spore print: white. Spores: 6-9 x 1-2 um, subcylindric to subfusiform, smooth, with an oil drop near each end (MushroomExpert).
