Cookeina venezuelae

What the fungus is

Cookeina venezuelae is a cup fungus, an ascomycete of the order Pezizales, which forms a cup-shaped fruiting body. It is known in English as the tropical cup fungus, a name the supplied catalogue records. The species name is a research name in the catalogue, and it has not been checked against current taxonomic authorities in this entry.

The fungus grows on wood. The supplied catalogue records its ecology as wood in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil, and its supply as unknown. The genus has three species that clearly occur in Brazil, and the same 2024 review that records this species also gives the first ITS sequences for specimens of C. venezuelae from Brazil.

Food record

The species is listed among the wild edible mushrooms of Brazil in a 2024 review of food resources from Brazil. That review and the supplied catalogue record consumption reported by the study's authors. The catalogue describes the record as newly added in 2024, and as limited: it rests on author observations rather than on a broad or long tradition of eating the fungus.

No preparation, cooking method, quantity or local name for this species is recorded in the sources read for this entry. The record does not show how widely the fungus is gathered, or whether any community uses it regularly.

Related species

Other species of the genus have stronger food reports. A Brazilian field study describes a related species, Cookeina tricholoma, as edible, with an account from a hunter in north-east Brazil who ate it.

These reports concern other species. They do not establish that Cookeina venezuelae is eaten in the same way, and they should not be used to infer its safety or its preparation.

Safety and identification

The catalogue states that food use of the species is newly recorded, that the evidence is limited, and that it is not proof of widespread traditional use. No toxicity data for Cookeina venezuelae were found in the sources read. Food-use records of this kind do not establish that a fungus is safe to eat.

This entry is not an identification guide. Cup fungi are not easily separated by appearance, and a specimen of this species needs a qualified identification before anyone considers eating it. The entry gives no verdict on the edibility of the species.

Open questions

The main gaps are the local names and uses of the fungus, the extent of its gathering, and any safety data for the species. Its taxonomic placement within the genus also needs confirming against the species descriptions.