E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Summary:
Battarrea phalloides develops deep underground, enclosed by volva that is broken as the long shaggy stem elongates, leaving a sac-like volva on base, and bearing the whitish spore case aloft where it ruptures peripherally. The top falls off, and the lower half (concave downward), is covered with a rusty brown sticky-powdery spore mass that is gradually dispersed. It grows in arid areas after rains. Spores are round and warted, and there is capillitium of two types: simple short hyphae, and elongated cells with internal spirals. Miller(14) differentiates Battarrea stevenii by saying that Battarrea phalloides is reputed to have a gelatinous tissue in the volva (Miller(14)), but there is molecular evidence of the synonymy of B. stevenii with B. phalloides, (Martin, M.P.). The online Species Fungorum, accessed February 7, 2017, gave the current name of B. stevenii as B. phalloides but MycoBank, accessed the same day, gave the current name of B. stevenii as B. stevenii. Siegel(2) say that recent genetic studies have shown that several species go by the name Battarrea phalloides.

B. phalloides occurs worldwide but it is rare. It has been reported from BC, YT, AZ, and Australia, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), ID (Smith), AK, and CA, (Arora), Mexico (Esqueda(1)), and Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Burundi, (Martin, M.P.). Oregon State University has a collection from OR, and the Pacific Forestry Centre has collections from BC. It also occurs in WA (M. Beug, pers. comm.), and the Owyhee region of both OR and ID (Trueblood(1)). The National Mycological Herbarium in Ottawa has collections from AB.

Outer Surface:
at first underground, completely closed by outer membrane that ruptures around the periphery as the stem elongates, leaving a volva at the base of the stem and a spore case on top of the stem, (sometimes with a volval patch on top); spore case 3-5(6)cm across, 1-3.5cm high, typically convex on top, with a flat or even depressed underside that sometimes resembles a veil, surface of spore case "smooth, pallid or whitish, soon splitting around its lower periphery so that the upper (rounded) portion falls off, thereby exposing the spore mass", the lower part remaining intact as a disc under the spore mass and sometimes persisting (after spore mass has dispersed) as a disc-like cap or sliding down the stem to form a ring, (Arora), spore case 2-3cm high, up to 6cm wide, at first consisting of 2 membranes, the outer flaking off and the inner separating circumscissilely or through numerous pores, so that the top part falls off as a lid or calyptra, (Smith), papery to tough spore case opens all around margin leaving 2 bowl-shaped halves, the upper half falling away, leaving powdery spore mass on lower (everted) half, (McKnight), young specimens develop 15-20cm deep (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), cap 3-6cm across (Siegel), 3-5cm broad, 2.5-3.5cm high (Miller)

Spore Mass:
rusty brown and powdery when mature, sticking to everything with which it comes into contact, (Arora), a flattened sticky mass (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Stem:
10-40cm x 0.4-1.5cm, not continuing into spore mass, equal or narrowing downward "(but volva-encased base may be swollen)", "rigid and tough or even woody, hollow"; "white to brownish or rusty brown"; "longitudinally striate or grooved and covered with fibers that often peel or split" to form fine to very coarse needle-like, ribbon-like, or shaggy scales; volva sac-like, "whitish or dirt-incrusted, often loose, buried in ground and soon rotting away", (Arora), 10-25(35)cm x 0.5-1.5(2)cm, surface with long ragged overlapping brownish scales; 2-layered non-gelatinous volva at base, (Smith), basal volva gelatinous at first inside volva, then dry, (Courtecuisse), shaggy, twisted, a mixture of yellow brown and some blue colors; extensive greenish yellow mycelial cords at base, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), 6-25(50)cm x 1-2.5cm (Siegel), 16-70cm x 1-4cm (Miller)

Odor:
spore mass sometimes has unpleasant odor when old (Arora)

Microscopic:
spores (4)5-8(10) x (4)5-8(10) microns, round to broadly elliptic, warted; capillitium of two types: "simple, short hyphae up to 10 microns long, and elators (elongated cells with internal spirals) up to 100 microns long", (Arora), spores 5.7 x 5.7 microns, round, punctate, pale brown, wall about 1 micron thick; capillitial threads of two types: 1) simple colorless threads and 2) ''fusiform or cylindric "elators" with inner wall having annular to spiral thickenings'', (Smith)