Fungus Rose and Earthstar Colony

A week or so ago I was hiking out on Elk Knob and happened to see a shelf fungus growing in the shape of a rose on an old stick.

Even more lovely was this unexpected colony of Astraeus hygrometricus, or hygroscopic (water-absorbing) earthstars. They are easiest to find after a snowmelt, because they open in response to water, and you can see the pale spore sac and the white-marked “petals” much more easily than when they are rolled up in a ball and better camoflauged in the winter leaf litter. It’s very common to find them in colonies, given that the spore sac in the center of the earthstar has a somewhat limited range.

In the photo below, you can count the earthstars—I counted 7—in various stages of being open or closed. The one at the top left is almost entirely rolled up.