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Project Noah Nature School
Astraeus hygrometricus
Young specimens resemble a puffball when young and unopened. In maturity, the mushroom displays the characteristic earthstar shape that is a result of the outer layer of fruit body tissue splitting open in a star-like manner.
sandy slope near water, temperate forest
I had walked by this group of earthstars a few times before I noticed it, in Foping Nature Reserve. There was about a dozen in different stages of growth in the area. It's the coolest earthstar I've ever seen!
Thanks audrey and Carol. I never thought of that but it does look like a flower bloomed with a giant pearl inside!
It looks like a flower or a pearl inside a flower. Very unusual and amazing!
Thank medallion, I think you're right. What a fascinating, well studied and widespread earthstar this is.
Im pretty sure it's an Astraeus hygrometricus. That can't be a Geastrum species. The cracked rays (exoperidium) and the undenfined mouth says it.
Spotted on Nov 26, 2011
Submitted on Apr 23, 2012
