Sarcoscypha occidentalis 

Sarcoscypha occidentalis-1119

Sarcoscypha occidentalis (Schwein.) Saccharide. 1889

It is a reddish cup shaped asco on a white stipe that is found in wet weather conditions on dead wood sticks in spring and sometimes in fall.  A similar species called Sarcoscypha austriaca is also found on sticks in the east. Its interior is red, and its exterior is a paler whitish-buff to pink, and it does not have a tem. This ‘Scarlet cup’ is in the Sarcoscyphaceae family of the Pezizales Order of the Ascomycota.