Sarcosphaera crassa (Santi ex Steudl) Pouz. Cup 3-15cm across, starts under the soil as smooth, hollow, and globelike, then splits open to become deeply cup-shaped with star-like rays; inner surface violet or grayish lilac, outer surface white to creamy and minutely felty; fleshy, thick-walled. No stem. Flesh brittle, fragile; white. Asci 300-360 X 12-13µ, stained blue at tip by iodine. Spores ellipsoid, with blunt ends, smooth, containing 2 oil drops, 15-18 x 8-9µ. Habitat singly or in clusters under coniferous or decidous trees. Sometimes common. Found widely distributed in northwestern North America and also reported in the Northeast, found in Hungary and other areas in Europe. Season June-August. Not edible.The last of the photographs was taken by Dr. Barthó Loránd in Hungary.