Collared Earthstar, new one to me

Seen many puffballs in this area, but never like this. Today they were everywhere.

8 comments

This is so cool!

If you pop them prematurely, does that compromise their ability to spread their wee spores or anything? It must be hard to resist.
- I don't think popping them was an issue, it was a few hours before the rain hit, they were ready to pop and my son was eager to help them.
  
  I think the idea is that raindrops hit the mushroom which expels the spores, suspect my son's finger does the job better than the fungi was expecting....but perhaps it would be better to leave them alone.
  
  Have a few video clips of pooping, but not sure how to post/share them
  
  Cool. I don't blame him for wanting to pop them, must be totally tempting and satisfying when you do!
  
  And thanks for the offer but the pooping videos aren't necessary lmao
  
  (hilarious typos aside, vidéos of these things popping would be super cool if you can figure it out!)
That's amazing. I have so many questions as a non-mushroom-person. Are they useful for anything? Do they unfold on their own or is that just how they look when they're done growing. Really spectacular and weird, which is what fungi do best.
- I'm not aware of any utility, but am a novice.
  
  I have seen hundreds of puffball mushrooms recently, my son is big fan of popping them, but these are a little different. It looks like an average puffball on a futon that turns into a star.
We get so many of those here! They're always a delight to see. Up there with the egg basket ones whose name I'm forgetting at the moment.

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