Fruiting body: an irregular subglobose puffball suspended on a stipe made up of vertical gelatinous threads; 8 – 20 mm diameter; glabrous, with small granules on the surface; ochraceous brown to dark brown; at the apex it has a small cap which breaks up at maturity revealing a 5 – 7 pointed star shaped pore with dark red margins.

Stipe: a column made up of glutinous vertical threads; 25 – 40 × 15 – 25; ochraceous brown; somewhat transluscent.

Spore print:

Spores:

Notes: this puffball is recognized by the combination of the strange stipe of agglutinated vertical threads, the star shaped apical opening with dark red margins and the cap that protects the apical pore which breaks up. Difficult to differentiate this species from C. fuscum if you cannot find the apical cap. Confirmed by sequencing.

Patrick Leonard 2019