Resembling round puffballs with raised, brightly colored spore openings (ostioles), elevated on a thick, gelatinous stalks, species have been collected in regions of deciduous, temperate, tropical or subtropical forests.

The unusual fruit body structure has historically led mycologists to suggest various classification schemes based on presumed relationships to other puffball or "stomach mushrooms".

The original genus description, based on the type species Calostoma cinnabarinum (synonymous with cinnabarina),[2] was published by French botanist Nicaise Auguste Desvaux in 1809.

[3] Before the advent of modern genetic analysis, the Calostoma was considered to be part of the Gasteromycetes, a grouping of fungi with enclosed spore-bearing structures.

[14] The genus name Calostoma is derived from the Greek kallos or "beauty", and stoma (στóμα) or "mouth"; similarly, several species are referred to in the vernacular as "prettymouths".

The outermost peridial layer is a thick gelatinous or shiny cuticle, which during maturity peels away to reveal the brightly colored peristome that has a star-shaped pore through which spores may escape.

[16] When grown in humid conditions, such as might typically be found in a temperate deciduous forest, Calostoma species develop a thicker, more gelatinous exoperidium (the outermost peridial layer).

As the stalk expands, the exoperidium becomes sloughed off, exposing the endoperidium and a raised peristome—the ridge of tissue around the opening suggestive of the common name, "prettymouth".

[21] In general, Calostoma species are not considered edible; because they typically begin their development underground, by the time fruit bodies appear they are too tough for consumption.

[21] However, a 2009 study reported that in the community of Tenango de Doria (Hidalgo state, Mexico), Calostoma cinnabarinum used to be collected by children and consumed "like a tidbit", although the tradition seems to have been abandoned in recent years.