Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Earth Star

This afternoon, I was unable to find a cluster of little Earth Stars that I had seen at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on the last two or three times I had been there. However, quite unexpectedly, I came across two of them in a different location. This one was growing in moss. "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website.

Spent a very enjoyable day with two friends at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park today, maybe a 45 minutes' drive south-west of Calgary. This time, we walked through wonderful, dense forest (off to the right of the photo) up to Eagle look-out. Here, there is a beautiful view over the valley, rolling foothills of the Rockies and the mountains in the far distance. I believe the temperature was around 30C again, so a hot climb, but we were rewarded with all sorts of interesting plants, insects, a fungus or two, and a few birds, including this very unusual fungus. Thanks, David, for finding this for us to marvel at : ). "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website.

Yesterday, I spent the day with a small group of friends, doing the May Species Count for the Whaleback. This location is about 171 km south of Calgary, down towards Pincher Creek. I'm adding photos taken yesterday to a Set of photos that, up till today, contained images taken on the Small Whaleback on 10 July 2011. Yesterday, we covered the southern end of the Whaleback. The last image I posted this morning shows how the whole area is made up of endless hills, with the Rocky Mountains quite close in this very southern part of Alberta. It rained or drizzled all day, so I had to battle water spots in the camera lens as well as low light and wind. Many of my photos are not really as sharp as I would have liked, but I am so glad that I went. Three of these small Earth Star fungi came as a surprise. I usually see them in forests, not on hillsides. The Balsamroot, which we don't get further north, closer to Calgary, was just beautiful. A closer look at these plants revealed all the damage done to their leaves - we saw a couple of tiny, green, hairy caterpillars in the centre of one flower, but I'm not sure if these were two of the culprits. It was a good day, great company, a few interesting finds and glorious scenery to thoroughly enjoy. Andrew, I hope your back isn't too painful today - such a great pity that you had to miss out on just about everything. Thanks so much, Sandy, for the drive there and back - much appreciated, as always. "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found several of these absolutely fascinating Earth Stars in a cluster at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park early in September. They were not attached to anything, but were sitting on top of loose leaf matter. These ones had no "neck". "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website.

Saw several of these absolutely fascinating fungi (smaller than actually seen here) at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park this afternoon. The star rays were curled under with all the Earth Stars I saw there, not spread out in the shape of a star. "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website.

One of our small group found this wonderfully unusual fungus on our walk this morning. I had longed to see one of these for ages, so this was a real treat. It was too dark to get decent photos deep in the woods, and this specimen is far from perfect. However, it is such a fascinating fungus. "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website.

One of our small group found this wonderfully unusual fungus on our walk this morning. I had longed to see one of these for ages, so this was a real treat. It is such a fascinating fungus. "The Earth Star is a striking soil fungus, so named because the outer wall of the spore-bearing body splits open into a star. One metaphor refers to the rays standing on their tips, like a ballet dancer standing on their toes. Like other earthstars, the outer, leathery wall (peridium) splits open into the rays of a star, but the rays fold down into "legs" that support the spherical spore case that sits on a short stalk or pedicel. The rays are firmly attached to a clump of mycelium and leaf debris." From "The Amazing Fungi " website.