Rayed Earthstar

Geastrum quadrifidum – Inedible

Spruce forests, mixed forests. Summer, autumn.

Young fruiting bodies globose, closed, 2-4 cm across, leathery yellow, greyish-brown. When the exoperidium splits, its 4 pointed rays, resting on the ground as if on hands, lift up the ovoid-elongated, 2x1 cm, bluish-grey, later brown, almost black endoperidium, a small body with a neat opening at the top. Gleba blackish-brown. Grows in coniferous and mixed forests among and on fallen needles and leaves. An old-growth forest fungus. Rare. Protected.