but I am afraid this won’t happen till next winter:( Right now there is an explosion of mushrooms over here and I’m very busy.
Well, to be honest, I haven’t seen very young specimens yet too. But I believe this is coz the initial stages are more or less hypogaeous and globose – like the ones from Geastrum triplex – and inconspicuous. As soon as the fungus ripens it stretches and forms those starlike appendages of the peridium. Fresh fruitbodies usually appear and grow from August on and you can find them till next summer as was the case with my find yesterday. I think fertility lasts from August to November depending on the weather situation, approximately. Astraeus belongs to the Boletales and is not related to Geastrum although they look alike. There are three species worldwide.

Gerhard – I would love to see this at multiple stages. I know you said your cluster didn’t include the really young stages but what do those young ones look like? How long do they fruit before they senesce?

was very impressive and I will post somewhen…them shrooms need acidic sandy soil in deciduous or mixed woods and not in anthropogenous land as most of Geastrum.