The fruit body, typically found partially buried in soil, is initially like a fleshy hollow ball, and may be mistaken for a puffball.

Unlike the latter, it splits open from the top downwards to form a cup with five to ten pointed rays, reaching up to 12 centimetres (4+3⁄4 in) in diameter.

It is commonly found in the mountains in coniferous woods under humus on the forest floor, and often appears after the snow melts in late spring and early summer.

Once thought to be a good edible, it is not recommended for consumption, after several reports of poisonings causing stomach aches, and in one instance, death.

[5] The Greek genus name means "flesh ball"; the Latin specific epithet, coronaria, refers to the crown-like form of the open fruit body.

[10] Several taxa have been named as belonging to the genus Sarcosphaera over the years, but most lack modern descriptions and have not been reported since their original collections.

[21] In 1947, Helen Gilkey described the genus Caulocarpa based on a single collection made in Wallowa County, Oregon.

[22] The type species, C. montana, was thought to be a truffle (formerly classified in the now-defunct Tuberales order) because of its chambered fruit body and subterranean growth habit.

[20] Phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal DNA sequences suggests that Sarcosphaera forms a clade with the genera Boudiera and Iodophanus, and that the three taxa are a sister group to Ascobolus and Saccobolus (both in the family Ascobolaceae).

Species in the families Pezizaceae and Ascobolaceae are distinct from other Pezizalean taxa in the positive iodine reaction of the ascus wall.

[25] In a more recent (2005) phylogenetic analysis combining the data derived from three genes (the large subunit ribosomal rRNA (LSU), RNA polymerase II (RPB2), and beta-tubulin), Sarcosphaera was shown to be closely related to the truffle genus Hydnotryopsis,[26] corroborating earlier results that used only the LSU rDNA sequences.

The cup is up to 12 cm (4+3⁄4 in) in diameter, roughly spherical initially but breaking up into a series of five to ten raylike projections, which give the fruit body the shape of a crown.

[42] The fruit bodies are found singly, scattered, or clustered together in broad-leaf woods favoring beech, less frequently with conifers.

[9] Because their initial development is subterranean, young fruit bodies are easy to overlook, as they as usually covered with dirt or forest duff.

[30] Historically, Sarcosphaera coronaria has been assumed to be saprobic,[9] acquiring nutrients from breaking down decaying organic matter.

[43] In Europe, the fungus is red-listed in 14 countries, and is considered a threatened species by the European Council for Conservation of Fungi.

[45] The fruit bodies can bioaccumulate the toxic heavy metal arsenic from the soil in the form of the compound methylarsonic acid.