Scarlet Lips That Blow Smoke

You've probably heard of getting high by smoking those funny mushrooms (just ask Willie if you need a supply source); well, we get high every spring by "smoking" our own variety of mushrooms right here in the Smokies. Of course the difference between us and Willie (among other things) is that we don't inhale. In fact, the mushrooms do the smoking while we just watch.

Seriously, there are smoking mushrooms that "exhale" clouds of smoke. One of the first signs of spring in our area, fungus-wise, is the appearance of the scarlet cup fungus Sarcoscypha coccinea. Reports I've read state it is most commonly found in maple woods, but we find it in lots of places where there are hardwoods. It is generally 3-5 cm (1-2 inches) across and can be seen from quite a distance because it's often the only bright thing around!

Scarlet Cup fungus is a member of the Pezizales, which includes Ascomycota and that also have a hinged lid (called an operculum) on the top of the ascus for spore release (I had to type those words very carefully). If you find one of these in the woods, you can blow gently over the top of the fungus and this puff of air will change the air pressure enough so that the spores are "puffed" out of the asci in large amounts, creating the cloud of spores you see in these pictures.

The spores aren't immediately blown out by your puff of air but instead, about one or two seconds after you blow across its top, are somehow ejected by the fungus . The ejection continues sometimes as long as two or three seconds--depending in part upon how long it had been since the last spore ejection and how mature the fungus was at the time.

Jan and I discovered this phenomenon quite by accident while checking to see if these fungi had a distinctive aroma (a common step in identifying fungi). I seem to recall that we had blown on one to rid it of some bit of debris or a small insect before sniffing it. Imagine our surprise when about one second after blowing on it the thing suddenly starts to billow smoke! This is now a favorite activity for us to share with other hikers. Almost everyone we tell about this is a skeptic until they try it for themselves. Individual fungi will only puff once or twice in a short period of time so if you are planning to show someone else one of these then the trick is to wait until they are watching before you puff on it the first time; otherwise, it might not perform for you.

Sarcoscypha coccinea is one of many members of the Ascomycota that fruit in the spring of the year. Ascomycota are easily distinguished microscopically from other fungi by the presence of asci containing ascospores on the upper surface of their fruiting bodies (yeah, right, we take our microscopes along with us on every hike).

The Ascomycota are a Division of Fungi whose members are commonly known as the Sac Fungi which produce spores in a distinctive type of microscopic sporangium called an ascus (Greek for a "bag" or "wineskin").