A star came out of the ground

By Aaron Horrell

I took this photo a few weeks ago during wet weather. It shows a land snail crawling across a mushroom called an Earth Star.

The Earth Star is similar to a puff ball mushroom in many ways. The biggest visible difference is the flower petal like rays folding outwardly. These rays are tough like leather.

The ball develops a hole at the top where spores come out when rain hits the ball or an animal steps on it. After days of expelling spores, the Earth Star will die and become unattached from the ground. If you find one at this stage, you may want to collect it and save it as a woodland curiosity.