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Green Elfcup (Chlorociboria aeruginascens)

This species of fungus occurs on fallen branches (especially of oak); its mycelium (a system of fungal threads) pervades the wood and stains it a rather striking blue-green colour. According to "Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe" (Roger Phillips), "the stained wood is often seen but the fruit bodies are less frequent" (see Link and Link for other views of the stained wood).

In this photograph, a few of the vividly-coloured fruiting bodies are visible; these measured up to about 5mm across. The branch on which they occurred was about three feet long, and was stained green along its full length.

The links cited above mention the use of the stained wood in a kind of marquetry known as Tunbridge Ware. However, it was put to a very similar use at an even earlier date; the book "Introductory Mycology" (Alexopoulos/Mims/Blackwell, 2002) mentions that "the use of the green-stained wood in elaborate intarsia (mosaics) has been traced back to early fifteenth-century Italy".