Vey small mushroom, less than 1/2 inch, disk-shaped to shallowly bowl-shaped. Red to orange above, somewhat darker below, with a fringe of thin hairs (the "eyelashes") all around the edge and hairs underneath.

The inside of the cup produces spores.  The lower right photograph shows a thin section cut from the inside of a cup and examined under the microscope.  Little bags, each containing eight spores, can be seen.  The lower middle photograph shows a single bag of spores, called an ascus (plural is asci). The scale bars are marked in micrometers, which are thousandths of a millimeter.

Grows singly, or in small clusters on rotting logs. Occasionally seen in Wildwood.

Easily overlooked because of the tiny size, but the eyelashes all around the rim are distinctive. Scarlet cup (Sarcoscypha austriaca) is much larger and has no eyelashes. Shaggy scarlet cup (Microstoma floccosum) is stalked and has shaggy white hairs. Orange eyelash cup (S. setosa) and yellow eyelash cup (S. erinaceus) are similar, but even smaller (less than 3 mm), grow in large clusters and are more orange or yellow in color. they have not been reported from the Park, but could easily be lurking there by the hundreds.