Summary: {See also Earthstars Table.} The most important field characters are the asperulate surface of the spore sac and the sulcate [pleated] peristome, (Smith(49)). There are 6-12 rays which are hygroscopic.
Microscopic: spores (4.5)4.8-5.7 microns in diameter excluding ornamentation, 5.6-6.7 microns in diameter including ornamentation, "verruculae isolated, irregular in outline", 0.3-0.6 microns high, 0.3-1.2 microns wide, "This species seems to vary noticeably with regard to size and colour of the mature spores, and coarseness of the warts."; basidia not seen, capillitial hyphae pale yellow to almost colorless, "finely tapered, occasionally forked or lobed, thick-walled with a narrow lumen, smooth or partially encrusted", (Pegler), spores 6-7.5 microns in diameter, round, very dark brown in KOH, coarsely asperulate with colorless plugs "extending into a gelatinous matrix", "apedicellate or pedicel present only as a broken stump"; capillitial threads 3-5 microns wide, slightly flexuous, pale yellowish in KOH, walls thickened, no cross walls seen, rarely branched, (Smith(49))
Notes: A collection from BC was deposited at the University of British Columbia and determined by Paul Kroeger. It is widely distributed through northern temperate regions (Pegler(4)).
Habitat and Range
Habitat
"in parks and gardens; on calcareous, well-drained soil", (Pegler(4) following Sunhede 1989), gregarious in sandy pasture, September and October (Smith(49))