About this fungus
Elastic Saddle is a fungus in the Helvellaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A slender woodland cup fungus with a pale grey-brown to tan, usually two-lobed saddle on a long white or cream stem. The smooth stem and lightly contorted cap give it a cleaner outline than the deeply fluted saddles.
What to check
Check for a saddle about 2 to 4 cm across, usually divided into two lobes, with a smooth spore-bearing upper surface and a paler finely matt underside. The stem is long, pale, hollow, smooth rather than ribbed, and often slightly twisted, with no ring or volva.
Variation
Cap colour ranges from pale tan and yellow-brown to grey-brown. The lobes can be fairly open or folded together, and groups may include upright young mushrooms and broader older saddles.
Lookalikes
Helvella ephippium is similar but has a distinctly hairy outer cap surface. Helvella crispa has a broader, strongly ribbed and fluted pale stem, while dark members of the Helvella lacunosa group have grey to black saddles and prominently grooved stems. Colour alone is not enough because Helvella species vary and modern studies have revised several old species concepts.
Habitat and range
Found on soil, litter and path edges in coniferous, broadleaved and mixed woodland, often in small groups. Its exact nutritional relationship is not fully settled, so it is better described by habitat than as certainly mycorrhizal.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Bernd Gliwa / CC BY-SA 2.5Species to compare
Similar mushrooms to compare against: