Disciseda candida (Schwein.) Lloyd
acorn puffball
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
acorn puffball
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Disciseda fruitbodies develop "just beneath the surface of the ground or partly exposed, at maturity breaking free of the ground, flipping over and opening by a (now) apical pore (typically marking the point of attachment of the growing fruiting body)", (Smith). When the upper part of the fruitbody sloughs off, leaving the inner layer to form the top, a flattened acorn appearance results. Features of this species are 1) a fruitbody 1-3cm across, the remains of the outer layer a cottony mass of hyphae and dirt, 2) an inner layer that is pale tan weathering to gray, 3) a spore mass that is olive-brown to umber brown, 4) growth in grass or soil partly exposed, and 5) round minutely warted spores with a short pedicel.
Odor:
none (Miller)
Taste:
unknown (Miller)
Microscopic:
spores 3.5-4.5 x 3.5-4.5 microns, round, minutely warted, with short pedicel (to 2-3 microns long); capillitial threads in this genus are curved, in short pieces, (Smith), spores 3.6-4.4 x 3.6-4.4 microns, round, warted, brown, at times with a tint of purple, with a short pedicel (mucro); basidia 4-spored, 9-14 x 6-7.4 microns, short-pyriform, spore mass chambers extremely minute, 5-25 microns wide, but often longer, basidia arise from irregularly anastomosing strings of threads; capillitium threads 3-5 microns wide, "irregular, not rarely branched, extending inwards from the walls of the peridium", "after maturity breaking up into short pieces"; tramal plates are not formed as in Lycoperdon and Scleroderma, (Coker), spores 3.0-5.5 microns, round, warted, with short pedicel, brown, thick-walled; capillitium "flexuous, thick-walled, occasionally branched, breaking up into short segments", (Miller)
Notes:
Collections were listed from NE, NJ, OH, SC, VA, (Coker). It was examined from AZ, and is known from many parts of the United States - it has been previously reported from NC, NE, NJ, Ohio, SC, VA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America, (Bates). The University of British Columbia has collections from BC. The herbarium at New York Botanical Garden has a collection of this species from OR collected and determined by S.M. Zeller, an Ellen Trueblood Collection from ID, and collections from AL, AZ, CA, CO, IN, KS, MO, MT, ND, NE, NJ, OH, SD, UT, VA, and Puerto Rico (NYBG collections listed as Disciseda candida (Schwein.) G. Cunn.). The University of Michigan has collections additionally from MI, NC, and TX.
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Disciseda subterranea has larger spores, 5.5-9.5 microns, (Coker). Disciseda subterranea has a grayish to bluish gray spore case and larger spores, (Arora). Several other Disciseda species may be found. The herbarium at New York Botanical Garden lists 7 other species names from North America, including Disciseda bovista (Klotzsch) Henn. from Oregon (collection by Ellen Trueblood), (NYBG), and Zeller(3) describes another 5 species names from western North America outside the Pacific Northwest.Habitat
in pastures and grassy areas, (Smith), single or cespitose, growing in the soil and partly exposed when fully grown, (Coker), single or in groups in pastures or other grassy and open areas, along paths, in barnyards, etc., (Arora), several to gregarious on ground "in open often dry fields, dunes, desert areas or disturbed areas"; spring, summer, fall, (Miller)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Peniophora glebulosa subsp. subulata Bourdot & Galzin
Peniophora subulata (Bourdot & Galzin) Donk