Details about map content are available here Click on the map dots to view record details.
Species Information
Summary: Features include 1) size 6cm or more across when the outer covering of the fruitbody has expanded out into star-like rays leaving the exterior of the rays clean, 2) non-hygroscopic rays, 3) dark wood brown to light drab spore case on short pallid stem, 4) opening by a distinct cone-shaped peristome that is often paler than the rest of the spore case, and 5) spores that are round and warty. Geastrum limbatum Fr. is regarded as a synonym of Geastrum coronatum Pers. by Pegler(4), but to simplify the issues, that concept is described separately. The four descriptions here refer to Geastrum limbatum Fr. sensu Bresadola - those of Coker(3) and Smith(49) are specifically named that way, with Smith(49) referring to the Coker(3) concept, and those of Ramsey(1) and Smith(4) appear to depend on Smith(49), (although Smith(4) uses the authority Geastrum limbatum Jungh.). Smith(49) specifically says that he is not following the concept of Cunningham. Coker is trying to refine the concept because of finding many American herbarium specimens labeled G. limbatum that would better be referred to G. rufescens, G. triplex, or G. pectinatum. He is also distinguishing it from G. limbatus of Hollos and of Massee and Berkeley in Europe that looks like Geastrum rufescens except for a blackish and more bald spore case with a more definite mouth.
G. limbatum was found on range lands in ID, (Ramsey), and is rare in the central and southern US, (Smith(4)). One University of British Columbia collection from BC was collected by T. McIntosh (determined as G. limbatum by A. McKinnon), another UBC collection from BC was collected by V.J. Krajina (determined by R. Bandoni), and a third UBC collection from NM was determined by W.H. Long. They should be compared with the features of Geastrum coronatum Pers. as described here.
Outer Surface: fruitbody "almost clean of trash", "outer layer of fruiting body separating leaving underside of rays clean", fleshy layer of rays dull cinnamon when dried and irregularly rimose [cracked], (Smith(4)), 2-4cm across when unexpanded, up to 6cm or more across the tips of the rays when expanded, "outer peridial surface drying hard and firm", practically clean of debris, upon expansion of the fruitbody "separating cleanly from medial layer over the central part and almost to the tips of the rays, thus leaving a cup in the ground to which the tips of the rays are attached in the expanded fruiting body; fleshy layer (inner or upper layer) dull cinnamon when dried and irregularly to radially rimose, separating slightly along margin of rays", (Smith(49)), 6cm or more across opened rays, rays dull cinnamon on upper surface; outer surface drying hard, "separating cleanly from medial layer over the central part and almost to the tips of the rays, leaving a cup in the ground to which the tips of the rays are attached", (Ramsey), firm, bald, nearly clean of trash except at base, "rays reflexed, the long tapering tips usually revolute", "outer layer not cracked into strips or flakes, but separating as a rule from the central region and the proximal part of the rays, and remaining convex below while the inner layer arches upward and elevated the spore sac (pseudofornicate)", (Coker(3), describing dried specimens)
Inner layer: spore case dark wood brown to drab, mouth area fibrillose and pallid, paler than the rest of the spore case, (Smith(4)), spore case nearly spherical, dark wood brown to light drab; mouth area pallid and fibrillose, (Smith(49)), spore case dark wood brown to light drab, (Ramsey), spore case subspherical, brown, nearly bald; peristome definite, silky, often paler than the spore case, broadly conic, the mouth fimbriate, (Coker(3) describing dried specimens)
Spore Mass: columella nearly spherical, about 0.4-0.5cm thick (Coker(3))
Stem: spore case on a short pallid pedicel, (Smith(4)), with a short pedicel as seen in expanded fruitbodies, (Smith(49)), spore case on a "short, thick, often flattened stalk", (Coker(3) describing dried specimens)
Microscopic: spores 3.5-4.5 microns in diameter, round, verrucose; capillitial threads thick-walled, colorless to dull brown, smooth to slightly incrusted, (Smith(4)), spores 3.5-4.5 microns in diameter, round, warty, pale bister as revived in KOH; capillitial threads colorless to dull brown, thick-walled, smooth or with some adhering debris, (Smith(49)), spores 3.7-4.8 microns in diameter, round, distinctly warted; capillitial threads up to 7 microns thick, straight, unbranched, colored like the spores, (Coker(3))
Habitat / Range
on soil in waste places, (Smith(4))
Similar Species
Geastrum limbatum resembles Geastrum triplex "in most important characters" - it differs from G. triplex "in the splitting away of the outer layer over the central region and the arching up of the middle layer", (Coker(3)). Geastrum fornicatum lacks the definite mouth area, (Smith(49)). Geastrum quadrifidum also has non-hygroscopic rays and a spore case that has pedicel and distinct peristome, but the fruitbody is smaller, the outer layer of the rays is covered with dense coat of white mycelium and debris, and the peristome is not paler than the rest of the spore case, (Ramsey, but note Smith says specifically mouth area of spore case of G. quadrifidum is paler than the remainder of the case). Geastrum rufescens has vinaceous colors and the outer layer does not separate the same way as the rays expand, (Smith(49)). G. rufescens also has the spore case on a pedicel but the apical pore is not sharply delimited.
