Earth stars are similar to puffballs with a layered coat. The outer layer splits and peels back into 5 to 10 petal-like arrays, thus clearing a space around the mouth of the fungi. Spore dispersal is then achieved by the action of rain drops falling on the inner sack and forcing brown warty spores out by the pressure.

Resent DNA sequencing has shown that most of the names used in New Zealand are incorrect, that is they are northern hemisphere names that have been miss applied to our similar looking yet natives species. The keys that are available to name this group are difficult to use so till I have fresh material to look with the microscope I chosen to remove most of the names I was using.