Spring Orange Peel Fungus

Spring orange peel fungus is a small, bright orange cup fungus and one of a group of fungi that fruit along melting mountain snowbanks. In the West it appears in spring and early summer on damp ground under conifers, often in spots where the snow has only just pulled back. Look for clusters of orange cups and saucers sitting in the needle duff along trails as the snow line retreats.

Its best field mark is a color change. The cups start out dull to bright orange, but as they age or get bruised, the rims and outer surfaces pick up blue to green stains. That staining sets it apart from other orange cup fungi.

The fungus has a second, hidden side to its life. In a form that only specialists can recognize, it attacks the seeds of conifers such as spruces and pines, usually while the seeds sit inside decaying cones on the ground. The orange cups you see are its spore-producing stage. A pale, albino form sometimes grows alongside the normal orange one. The species is found throughout North America and also in Europe and the temperate parts of Asia, but it is far more common in the western mountains than in the East.