A Star is Born

I walk around my garden every morning, the best way to start the day before I plonk myself in front of the latest excel spreadsheet or Teams call. And every day there is something new to be found, something to delight or entrance.

And then some mornings I find something that amazes. And so it was this Tuesday when I chanced upon what looked like it was from another world. It was this:

What a curiosity! It is about 10cm (4 inches) across, a fleshy cup holding within it this strange egg with a little chimney-hole at the top.

This is an earthstar fungus, or specifically the Collared Earthstar. And by rummaging in the undergrowth nearby, I soon found another that better illustrates why it is so named.

What happens is that, in late summer or autumn, this thing emerges from the ground like an alien bulb pushing out of the soil. Then the outer layer splits, bending backwards to create a fleshy star, exposing the spore-bearing globe within.

The rays of the star then in effect act as legs, pushing the globe up into view. One of mine is growing sideways. Isn't it like some sea-creature or a flower from another world?

Eventually, the rays of the star tend to break, leaving the globe sat in a saucer, as in the first photo.

All very fascinating, but earthstars then have a bit of a cool party trick. They release their microscopic spores when breaths of wind blow over the top of the chimney-hole (the peristome). Each spore is only about four nanometres across - a nanometre is a billionth of a metre. Now you're not going to see that with the naked eye! Or are you...

The thing is that when raindrops hit the egg, the spores can puff out in a cloud. Well, I had to see if I could get my earthstars to perform for you!

So, armed with a little watering can in one hand and my finger on the trigger in the other, this is what I managed. Ta dah!

Isn't nature incredible!