Bird's Nest Fungus

These two groups of fungi have a superficial similarity. Both produce cup-like fruiting bodies that contain tiny "eggs", or peridioles. While each Cannonball fungus fruiting body contains just one peridiole, there are many in a Birds Nest fruiting body. However, despite the similarities in appearance the two groups are only distantly related and they release their spores in quite different ways. In this section you'll find out how the spore-containing peridioles are released.