The last couple weeks I’ve noticed a series of puffball-like mushrooms with a star-shaped opened outer casing in a sandy area just up gradient from a salt marsh near my house in Bourne. I’m still not 100% sure on the identification, but I think I may have finally identified its genus, Schleroderma, with a potential for it to be Scleroderma polyrhizum.

Examples of the mushrooms I found.  The bottom picture shows the underside.

Scleroderma polyrhizum, commonly called earthstars or earthballs, is generally found in dry, sandy soils, which fits with the location I found the earthstar pictured here.   Additionally, S. polyrhizum begins growing completely buried, before slowly forcing itself to the surface and pushing the sand aside. As the mushroom matures, and reaches the surface, the peridium (outer skin) cracks apart to form a rough star-shape exposing an inner spore mass. The peridium is tough and thick, with a rough surface. Although it is white initially, it changes to light brown as it matures.

Click here for an example of an observation of S. polyrhizum located only a couple miles away from the ones I found.

The area where I found the mushrooms.