Summary:
Scleroderma citrinum differs from other Scleroderma species in having scales disposed in rosettes (with a central pyramidal wart and smaller scales arranged radially) and in the structure and size of the spores. Features include 1) spherical or somewhat flattened yellowish or yellowish brown fruitbody with scales the same color or darker, turning pinkish to dark reddish when rubbed, 2) the peridium [covering] 0.1cm thick or more when dry, and corky-rubbery in consistency, 3) the spore mass whitish and firm but soon violaceous brown or dark violaceous and finally powdery and violet-black to blackish brown, 4) attachment to soil or rotten wood by a short thick rhizomorphic stem-like base, 5) growth on soil or sometimes rotten wood, and 6) spiny reticulate spores. This is a common Scleroderma in the Pacific Northwest.

Odor:
rubbery when fresh, without odor or bread-like when mature; in dried specimens there is a characteristic odor like decomposed fish (Guzman), strong and pungent when cut open (Phillips), strong and acrid (Lincoff(1))

Taste:
rubbery when fresh, without odor or bread-like when mature (Guzman), strong and acrid (Lincoff(1)), bitter (Miller)

Microscopic:
spores (9.5)11-14(16) x (9.5)11-14(16) microns, round, including the spines, spiny and reticulate, the spines 1-2.5 microns long, robust and conic but at the same time fleeting, with maturity they fragment and can almost disappear, walls less than 1 micron thick, the reticulum is irregular and fragmented, mature spores dark yellowish brown in Melzer''s reagent and in KOH; immature spores are 6.4-9.6 microns in diameter, pear-shaped to round or irregular in form, whitish or yellowish in Melzer''s reagent and in KOH, thick-walled (walls more than 1 micron thick), with a short peduncle; basidia 4-spored, 11-25 x 6-9 microns, vesiculose-pyriform, colorless, with short sterigmata, rapidly degenerating completely; clamp connections present, (Guzman), spores 11-14 x 11-14 microns, often have a well defined reticulum, but the ornamentation seems to vary greatly between subreticulate or catenulate spores, and mildly or strongly reticulate spores, (Sims), spores 8-13 x 8-13 microns, round, strongly reticulate, (Arora), spores 9-11 x 9-11 microns excluding reticulum, round, irregularly spinose-reticulate, reticulum usually incomplete and irregular; basidia 5-10 x 3-5 microns, clavate, without basal clamp connection; hyphae of gleba 3-6 microns wide, brown, thick-walled to thin-walled, septa without clamp connections, (Breitenbach, although saying that Scleroderma bovista "also has hyphae with clamps"), spores 9-13 microns in diameter excluding ornamentation, round, spiny and with ribs forming a usually incomplete net-like patter; no capillitium, (Buczacki)

Notes:
Collections were examined from ID, MI, PA, Finland, Germany, and United Kingdom, (Sims) and from OR, NS, ON, PQ, AL, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, IA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ghana, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, China (Tibet), India, and Vietnam, (Guzman). There are collections from BC at the Pacific Forestry Centre (mostly as Scleroderma aurantium). The University of Washington has at least one collection from WA.

EDIBILITY

poisonous causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and even chills and cold sweats, (Arora)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Clavaria phacorrhiza Pers.
Clavaria scutellata de Bary
Scleroderma aurantium Vaill. ex Pers.
Scleroderma vulgare Hornem.