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. Season June-August. Not edible.