On the ground in a deciduous area in northeastern British Columbia, I discovered this cluster of minuscule reddish-orange mushrooms. The caps are inverted and slightly scalloped. They are so tiny that two or three could fit inside the circumference of a lady's ring. Thank you for help with identifying it.
Beautiful and intriguing! Your photo helpfully shows key details including size, burnt ground habitat, stalk/colour, no gills on "underside" of cap/cup, same colour interior/exterior, scallopped rim. Which eliminated many things and it is also something I have not run into before. The strong red colour limited the choices to a small number of mushrooms. Sarcoscypha coccinea I thought was similar/possible but the habitat and exterior colour/texture of the cup don't match. The scalloped rim and overall shape/size matched other burnt ground inhabitors, but I was not familiar with that strong red. Other red/orange candidates lacked a stalk. Finally I came across Microstoma protractum! This appears to be a perfect match - I had never heard of this fungus & mushroom before, and I am very excited and will be looking out for it! I just came back from your area, sadly did not have any extra time to contact you to see if I could look at this cluster in person. Thanks! frog
Thank you for persevering until you found an answer! I appreciate your diligence and your detailed reply.
