Please help me identify this flower?

Link to photo here:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/60721674@N0...


or


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1396/5715...





What plant produces this small flower? I saw them lying on the ground while hiking at Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland. They are about the size of my finger tip.





Thanks!

Please help me identify this flower?
The photo in question is most probably that of a puffball





mushroom with the scientific name Geastrum saccatum ·





(Sessile Earthstar). It is a fungus .





Kindly click on the links below to confirm or reject --


http://gardenbythesea.org/about/mushroom...





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Geast...








flowers of Mountain laurel ( Kalamia latifolia ) for comparison-


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Laure...
Reply:I'm not American so I can't give you a precise answer but what you're looking at there is certainly not a plant. It's some kind of fungus. As the lady said before me it looks like an earthstar.
Reply:Those look like Earthstars, not flowers or plants at all but a type of fungus! They are related to puffball mushrooms.
Reply:Those are flowers of Mountain Laurel bushes They're very pretty and cool-looking, with that star-like structure. I'm kind of surprised you didn't see any still on the bush, but maybe the season is close to done by now. Some of the dried brown leaves in the picture look rather like Mountain Laurel leaves - spear-shaped, leathery, glossy dark green (when alive)
Reply:Kalmia latifolia Mountain Laurel