This small Ascomycete cup fungus is saprobic, living on dead wood or plant material, often in moss. Only 1/4″ to 1.25″ in diameter, it’s fairly small, but that’s not unusual for a cup fungus. Many are quite small.
It’s often found in early spring just after the snow begins to melt. It has smooth black or very dark brown inner surface, and a black outer surface.
The outer surface has a gravely appearance due to presence of many fine curved hairs. The dark color and slight texture against the green moss makes it quite beautiful despite is diminutive size and for lack of a better word “plain-ness”.
