Aleuria aurantia, the orange peel fungus, is a cup fungus (Pezizales) with a bright orange inner surface and a paler, finely downy outside. The stemless cups are 1–10 cm across and become wavy, split or misshapen from crowding. It is a saprobe of bare, disturbed, often gravelly or clay soil along paths and tracks. A fucose-specific lectin from this species (AAL) is widely used as a laboratory probe for fucose.
Edible but of little culinary value; fragile and hard to collect intact. It is sometimes sliced thinly or dried and used to add colour to salads. Confirm identity first: many other cup fungi are poisonous or of unknown edibility, and in Europe Otidea and Caloscypha species can be confused with it.
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Habitat
Saprobic on bare clay, gravelly or disturbed soil: path edges, roadsides and cleared forestry tracks. Season: August to early November in Britain and Ireland, later in southern Europe; May to November in eastern North America and November to March in the West.
Distribution
Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe from Scandinavia to southern Iberia, and throughout North America; reported from southern Chile. A smaller-spored variety occurs in the Pacific Northwest.
Characteristics
Cap: Cup 1–10 cm across (commonly 3–6 cm), cup-shaped becoming wavy, split or flattened; inner fertile surface pale to deep orange-red; outer surface paler with fine whitish down. Gills: None; spores form in asci on the inner surface. Stem: Absent; attached to soil by mycelial threads. Flesh: Thin and fragile. Odor: Not distinctive. Spore print: White; spores ellipsoid, coarsely reticulate, 17–24 × 9–11 µm including ornamentation, usually with two oil drops; asci 8-spored.
