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Starfish small or small (Geastrum minimum) – a very interesting fruiting body, also called “earth stars”. It belongs to the Zvezdovikov family, the genus Zvezdovik. The fungus was first classified in 1822 by Lewis de Schweinitz. In 1851, he received the name Geastrum cesatii, assigned to him by Ludwig Rabenhorst.
Description of the little star
The little starfish begins to develop underground. It has the appearance of miniature balls, hollow inside, ranging in size from 0,3 to 0,8 cm. Then the fruiting bodies on a low stem break through the forest floor. Their color is white, gray-silver, creamy-beige. The surface is smooth, matte.
The outer shell blooms with sharp petals, forming a star of 6-12 rays. The tips are not strong at first, and then distinctly wrap down and inward. The space between the petals and the substrate is filled with arachnoid mycelium. The diameter of the ripe ball is 0,8-3 cm, when opened, the dimensions reach 4,6 cm in diameter and 2-4 cm in height. As the petals age, they become covered with a network of cracks, becoming parchment-thin, translucent or brown-withered.
Under the dense peridium is a thin-walled sac filled with maturing spores. Its dimensions are from 0,5 to 1,1 cm. Its color is snow-silver, white-cream, beige, light purple or slightly ocher. Matte, velvety, covered with a white granular coating. Its apex has a small, papillary opening. Spore powder is ash-brown.
Fruiting bodies look like miniature wax flowers scattered across a moss clearing.
Where and how to grow
The mushroom is quite rare. Distributed in Europe, the British Isles. On the territory of Our Country, it is found in the central and western regions, in the Far East and in Siberia.
Likes sandy, lime-rich soils, thickets of grasses and thin moss cover. Grows on edges, forest clearings, meadows and steppes. You can also see it on the side of the road. The mushroom picker bears fruit from mid-summer to late autumn.
Grows in groups of many fruiting bodies of different ages
Is the mushroom edible or not?
Starfish small refers to inedible mushrooms due to its low nutritional value. There are no data on toxicity.
The mushroom is not suitable for food, but it looks spectacular
Twins and their differences
The little starfish is similar to some representatives of its own species. It differs from them in miniature size and spore structure.
Starfish fringed. Inedible. It differs by a darker color of the inner layer and a curved “proboscis” instead of a stoma.
Settles on rotten deadwood, in forest waste with an abundance of twigs and bark
Four-bladed star. Inedible. It has a gray-mealy, and then a dirty bluish color of the bag and ice-white petals, 4-6 in number.
The stoma is quite clearly distinguished by a lighter color.
Starfish striped. Inedible. They belong to saprotrophic fungi, are involved in the processing of woody remains into a fertile soil layer.
The stomata, through which spores fly out, looks like a half-opened bud
Conclusion
Starfish small – a representative of a unique type of “star” mushrooms. At the beginning of its life, the fruiting body is underground, getting out to the surface by the time the spores ripen. It is extremely rare. Its habitat is the Eurasian continent and Great Britain. It grows in deciduous and coniferous forests, on alkaline soils. It has twins of its own kind, from which it differs in small size.
