Lycoperdon perlatum Pers.
gem-studded puffball
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
gem-studded puffball
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
Features include 1) pear-shaped or top-shaped whitish fruitbody, with slender, short, cone-shaped warts interspersed with smaller spines or granules, these warts falling off leaving scars in a mesh-like pattern at first, the spines white to gray, 2) the inner layer rupturing through a round hole at the top, 3) the spore mass firm and white at first, becoming soft and turning yellow, then olive, and finally darker brown and powdery, 4) the stem conic and about two thirds of the total height, the sterile base well developed with large chambers, 5) growth on the ground in a variety of habitats, and 6) round, minutely spiny spores. Lycoperdon perlatum is the commonest puffball in the Pacific Northwest and probably in North America.
Odor:
none (Miller)
Taste:
mild (Miller)
Microscopic:
spores 3.5-4.5 x 3.5-4.5 microns, round, minutely spiny, (Arora), spores 3.5-4.5 x 3.5-4.5 microns, round, finely verrucose, brown, rather thick-walled; basidia 2-4-spored, 7-10 x 4-5 microns, short-clavate, without basal clamp connection; capillitial threads 2.5-7 microns wide, brownish, without septa, elastic, thin-walled to thick-walled, smooth or with bumps, with occasional pores [pits], (Breitenbach), spores with no pedicel (McKnight)
Notes:
New York Botanical Garden has collections from BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, NF, ON, PQ, AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, IN, KS, MA, ME, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WI, WY, Jamaica, Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, South Africa, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, (NYBG). It is also found in YT (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), and is reported from IL, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, OK, SC, TX, UT, VT, and WV, and India, (Bates).
EDIBILITY
edible when firm and white inside, not if there is the slightest trace of yellow, "bland at best and bitter at worst", (Arora)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Apioperdon pyriforme grows on wood, and flesh in the sterile base remains white at maturity (that of L. perlatum turns olive-brown at maturity), (Breitenbach). Lycoperdon nigrescens also forms a reticulate pattern on the inner layer of the covering after the spines fall off, but when young it is brown and spherical to top-shaped, and it has compound spines rather than warts, (Breitenbach). Any puffball that could be confused with it has purplish brown spores, (Lincoff(2)). See also the SIMILAR section of Lycoperdon molle.Habitat
single, scattered, gregarious, or clustered, "on ground in woods and under trees, along roads, or sometimes in the open", usually fruiting in fall or winter, (Arora), usually gregarious, more rarely single, on soil and needle litter in conifer or mixed forests, more rarely outside forests, summer to fall, (Breitenbach), "on ground in conifer or hardwood forests or on mulch or compost piles" (Bessette), "in woods of various kinds, also in lawns or on cultivated ground", (Ammirati)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Irpiciporus lacteus (Fr.) Murrill
Lycoperdon gemmatum Batsch
Sistotrema lacteum Fr.