Scarlet elf cup (Sarcoscypha austriaca)

These photos come from my friend, Gill Henwood.

Gill was  tidying up her garden ready for Spring recently. –
“We found this in our damp dell whilst cutting back ferns to give emerging snowdrops more light.
This is a Scarlet Elf Cup (Fungus), A beautiful deep scarlet, hidden within the soft blush cup.
Vibrant colour, in a woodland floor of decaying twigs and leaves, and mosses. 
Creation surprises us with unexpected delights. Rich red on a gloomy, cloudy, drizzling day.”

For more information, visit the Woodland Trust website, which describes the Elf Cup as ‘Mystical and cheery.’ Mystical and cheery, the scarlet elf cup grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp spots and beneath leaf litter on the woodland floor. Their bright pops of colour brighten up even the darkest winter day.

Elsewhere we read that, ‘The Scarlet Elf Cup’ gets its name from folklore that says woodland elves use the vibrant, cup-shaped fungi as tiny goblets to drink morning dew or that fairies bathe in the rainwater collected in them. Its bright red colour against the winter woodland floor, combined with its delicate, cup-like shape, inspired these imaginative tales of mythical beings.

Elf-cups (a poem by Mr G)

Hidden beneath decaying leaves
forest debris moves.
Soil crumbles beneath finger and thumb
of creation’s constant action.
Earth changing shape as pale wintry light
penetrates the woodland womb
bringing to birth cup-like, colourful fungi
signs that winter prepares to herald Spring.
God’s creation always surprises us,
if we but look with open hearts
ever expectant to be captivated.

Yet look again – these chalices of winter dew
may carry Nature’s sacrament of new life
to waiting elves!

Mr G. 24^th January 2026

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