On strongly decayed wood, twigs and chips of broadleaves, also on buried wood, in damp, shady places

Inedible — small, tough and of no culinary value

• ▸ Goblet- to vase-shaped fruit bodies, narrowed towards the base and opening into a broad mouth
• ▸ Outer surface woolly-velvety, brown to grey-brown; inner surface strikingly longitudinally grooved and silvery-grey
• ▸ Inside, several flat grey disc-like peridioles (the 'eggs') attached by fine elastic cords
• ▸ Grows in tufts and rows on decayed wood, twigs and woody debris

The peridioles are the spore packages: raindrops splash them out of the open cup while the elastic cord stays stuck to the substrate — an ingenious dispersal mechanism.