Fallen Star
Nestled amidst leaf litter and decaying stumps on forest floors around the world, the collared earthstar (Geastrum triplex) can be hard to spot—that is, until the mushroom’s bulbous core wheezes a fleeting puff of spores. As a member of a group of fungi called Gasteromycetes, or “stomach fungi,” the collared earthstar begins its life cycle as a hardened bulb of just a few centimeters, anchored underground by a network of tiny fungal threads, called mycelia. In the late summer and early fall, earthstars reach maturity and “bloom” into their characteristic, flower-like shape as the thicker outer tissue (the exoperidium) splits into an array of some four to eight points, much like a rind falling off an orange. Once fully mature, the average earthstar resembles a drab clementine perched atop a star-shaped saucer.
Photo: Alex Hyde
