A small, bright red cup fungus on a slender whitish stalk, growing from partly buried hardwood twigs. It fruits later in the year than the early-spring scarlet cups (S. coccinea and S. austriaca), from late spring into early autumn. Despite the name 'occidentalis' (western), it is a species of eastern North America.
Not edible in any practical sense: it is small and thin-fleshed, with no culinary value.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Saprobic on partly buried twigs and sticks of hardwoods (oak, maple, basswood) in moist, shaded, humus-rich soil. Late spring to early autumn in the United States.
Distribution
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North America east of the Rocky Mountains; higher elevations in Central America and the Caribbean; Japan and Taiwan (Wikipedia).
Characteristics
Cup: up to 2 cm wide, bright red inside, the inner surface fading to yellow or orange when dry; margin inrolled and scalloped when young, becoming jagged. Stem: slender, whitish, up to 3 cm long. Flesh: thin; no distinctive odor or taste. Spores: ellipsoid to nearly cylindrical with blunt ends, smooth, 19-22 x 10-12 um, usually with two large oil drops (Wikipedia).
