Species flashcards

Description

Fruitbody: 3–5 cm across, spherical to slightly pear-shaped, with a short sterile stem-like base. Whitish when young and covered with large, flaky outer veil fragments that split into plates and later peel away. It becomes ochre and finally chocolate-brown with age.

Fertile layer: The fertile layer is contained inside the fruitbody in the gleba. At maturity an opening forms at the apex and releases the spores as a powdery cloud.

Stem: Short and cylindrical; the sterile base remains whitish for a long time.

Flesh: The gleba is firm and pure white when young, then yellowish-olive, finally brown and powdery. Only young specimens that are completely white inside are edible.

Spores: Spore print brown; spores 3–4 µm in diameter, spherical and spiny.

Occurrence: A rare species of deciduous woodland, especially on calcareous soil, fruiting from July to October.

Edibility: Conditionally edible only while the gleba is completely white; it is a protected species and must not be collected.

Lookalikes: Similar to other puffballs, but the large flaky, plate-like outer veil remnants on a whitish background are distinctive.

Note: Lycoperdon means wolf fart, from the Greek 'lýkos' for wolf and 'pérdomai' or 'pordḗ' for passing wind; it refers to the cloud of spores released from a dry fruitbody when pressed. Mammiforme derives from Latin 'mamma' for breast or nipple and 'forma' for shape, referring to the rounded, often slightly nipple-like fruitbody.

Species description: Christiaan Hendrik Persoon described the species as Lycoperdon mammiforme in 1801.

Taxonomy

1. PhylumBasidiomycota
2. ClassAgaricomycetes
3. OrderAgaricales
4. FamilyAgaricaceae
5. GenusLycoperdon

• Species: Lycoperdon mammiforme
• Authority: Pers. (1801)
• English name: Flaky puffball
• Ecological status: saprotrophic
• Edibility: conditionally edible