English: Collared earthstar; Saucered earthstar; Triple earthstar; Earthstar.
German: Halskrausen-Erdstern.
Synonyme: Geastrum indicum; Geastrum michelianum; Geastrum tunicatus.
Region: Asia, Australasia, Europe, North and South America.
Habitat: detritus and leaf litter of hardwood forests.
Content: The fungus has a history of use in the traditional medicines of native North America and China.
Content: various chemical derivatives of ergosterol.
Use: inedible; traditional medicines of native North America and China.
MycologyBrown, hidden on calcium soil.
The fungus is saprotrophic. The cap is not distinct. The spore print is brown. It is to 12 cm long. Immature fruit bodies are spherical, resembling puffballs, with pointed beaks, partially or completely buried in the ground. As the fungus matures, the outer layer of tissue splits into four to eight pointed segments that spread outwards and downwards, lifting and exposing the spherical inner spore sac. The spore sac contains the gleba, a mass of spores and fertile mycelial tissue that when young is white and firm, but ages to become brown and powdery. Often, a layer of the exoperidium splits around the perimeter of the spore sac so that it appears to rest in a collar or saucer. Atop the spore sac is a small pointed beak, the peristome, which has a small hole from which spores may be released.