365 Urban Species. #294: Bird's Nest Fungus

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Picked out of the broken glass and burnt rubble of a homeless persons' camp in Olmsted Park, Boston.

Urban species #294: Bird's nest fungus Crucibulum laeve

As we have seen before, mushrooms appear in amazing variety, resembling things they are not, such as ears, fingers, and now, even miniature bird's nests. The fungal body itself is invisible, threads of tissue that grow through some rich organic matter, such as leaf litter or well-rotted wood. Up from this substrate the little cups protrude, with flat discs inside, looking all the world like an insect-sized bird has laid weird eggs in thimble-sized nests. These structures are the fungus' way of reproducing itself. When rain comes, a droplet may hit the cup, sending the "egg" several feet away. A coating on this "egg" (called a "peridole" by mycologists) then decays or is grazed away by insects or other small invertebrates. Each peridole contains many spores, but many less spores are produced by bird's nest fungi than by other mushrooms. The vagaries of the wind carry other spores, wasting the vast majority of them, but the agency of rain and animals carry bird's nest fungal spores to places where they are more likely to be fruitful. It is a delightful accident of nature that this efficient spore-dispersal system should resemble the reproductive efforts of a feathered animal. Bird's nest fungi are very common, but very small and inconspicuous. Most urban people have stepped over them, but relatively few have stopped to admire them.

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