page_title: Galiella rufa
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Galiella rufa / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Cross-section of the fruit body of the cup-fungus Galiella rufa (Schwein.) Nannf. &amp; Korf. Specimen found in Rock Island State Park, Warren Co., Tennessee, USA.
context_page_description: Galiella rufa, commonly known as the rubber cup, the rufous rubber cup, or the hairy rubber cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcosomataceae. The fungus produces cup-shaped fruit bodies that typically grow in clusters on branches and exposed portions of buried wood throughout eastern and Midwest North America and in Malaysia. The fruit bodies have the texture of tough, gelatinous rubber, and have a rough, blackish-brown, felt-like outer surface and a smooth reddish-brown inner surface. Although generally considered inedible by North American mushroom field guides, it is commonly consumed in Malaysia. The fungus produces several interesting natural products.
context_section_description: The fruit bodies of G. rufa are initially closed and roughly spherical to top-shaped, and resemble minute puffballs. They later open in the shape of a shallow cup, and reach diameters of 15–35 mm (0.6–1.4 in) wide. The cup margin is curved inwards and irregularly toothed; the teeth are a lighter color than the hymenium. The interior surface of the cup, which bears the spore-bearing surface (the hymenium) is reddish-brown to orange-brown. The exterior surface is blackish-brown, and covered with hairs that measure 7–8 μm long that give it a felt-like or hairy texture. The flesh of the fruit body lacks any distinctive taste or odor, and is grayish, translucent, gelatinous and rubbery. The fungus sometimes has a short stem that is up to 10 mm (0.4 in) long by 5 mm (0.2 in) wide, but it may be missing in some specimens. Dried fruit bodies become leathery and wrinkled.
  Although the fruit bodies are generally considered by North American field guides to be inedible, or of unknown edibility, in parts of Malaysia it is commonly eaten, and even "prized for its edibility".
  The spores are thin-walled, elliptical with narrowed ends, and covered with fine warts; they have dimensions of 10–22 by 8–10 μm. Both the spores and the asci (spore-bearing cells) are nonamyloid. The asci are narrow and typically 275–300 μm long. The paraphyses (sterile cells interspersed among the asci in the hymenium) are slender threadlike. Ultrastructural studies have demonstrated that the development of the spore wall in G. rufa is similar to the genus Discina (in the family Helvellaceae) and to the other Sarcosomataceae, especially Plectania nannfeldtii; both of these species have fine secondary wall spore ornaments.
caption: The interior flesh is translucent and gelatinous.
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