[1] The species was first described scientifically by French botanist Pierre Jean François Turpin in 1820, from specimens found in Haiti.

[1] The volva is white, up to 7 centimetres (2.8 inches) in diameter, spherical to egg-shaped, and marked by a reticulum of grooves that are opened by irregular splitting at the apex.

There are up to about 50 radially grooved holes in the fruit body, which are more or less polyhedral to spherical near the top, but more elongated near the base.

The spongy arms are up to about 1 cm (0.4 in) wide, and unite at the base to form a structure with the overall shape of an inverted cone.

[4] The species has been recorded from USA (Florida), Mexico, West Indies (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico), Central and South America to Uruguay and northern Argentina (Cordoba).