common puffball

Description:

The fruit body ranges in shape from pear-like with a flattened top, to nearly spherical, and reaches dimensions of 1.5 to 6 cm (0.6 to 2.4 in) wide by 3 to 7 cm (1.2 to 2.8 in) tall. It has a stem-like base. The outer surface of the fruit body (the exoperidium) is covered in short cone-shaped spines that are interspersed with granular warts. The spines, which are whitish, gray, or brown, can be easily rubbed off, and leave reticulate pock marks or scars after they are removed.[11] The base of the puffball is thick, and has internal chambers. It is initially white, but turns yellow, olive, or brownish in age.[11] The reticulate pattern resulting from the rubbed-off spines is less evident on the base.[15] In maturity, the exoperidium at the top of the puffball sloughs away, revealing a pre-formed hole (ostiole) in the endoperidium, through which the spores can escape.[16] In young puffballs, the internal contents, the gleba, is white and firm, but turns brown and powdery as the spores mature.[11] The gleba contains minute chambers that are lined with hymenium (the fertile, spore-bearing tissue); the chambers collapse when the spores mature.[16] Mature puffballs release their powdery spores through the ostiole when they are compressed by touch or falling raindrops. A study of the spore release mechanism in L. pyriforme using high-speed schlieren photography determined that raindrops of 1 mm diameter or greater, including rain drips from nearby trees, were sufficient to cause spore discharge. The puffed spores are ejected from the ostiole at a velocity of about 100 cm/second to form a centimeter-tall cloud one-hundredth of a second after impact. A single puff like this can release over a million spores.[17] Closeup of the ostiole. Note the pockmarks left behind from missing spines. Spores are thick-walled and spherical, measuring roughly 4 μm in diameter. The spores are spherical, thick-walled, covered with minute spines, and measure 3.5–4.5 μm in diameter. The capillitia (threadlike filaments in the gleba in which spores are embedded) are yellow-brown to brownish in color, lack septae,[18] and measure 3–7.5 μm in diameter.[15] The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 7–9 by 4–5 μm. The basidia bear four slender sterigmata of unequal length ranging from 5–10 μm long. The surface spines are made of chains of pseudoparenchymatous hyphae (resembling the parenchyma of higher plants), in which the individual hyphal cells are spherical to elliptical in shape, thick-walled (up to 1 μm), and measure 13–40 by 9–35 μm. These hyphae do not have clamp

Habitat:

Lycoperdon perlatum, popularly known as the common puffball, warted puffball, gem-studded puffball, or the devil's snuff-box, is a species of puffball fungus in the family Agaricaceae. A widespread species with a cosmopolitan distribution, it is a medium-sized puffball with a round fruit body tapering to a wide stalk, and dimensions of 1.5 to 6 cm (0.6 to 2.4 in) wide by 3 to 7 cm (1.2 to 2.8 in) tall. It is off-white with a top covered in short spiny bumps or "jewels", which are easily rubbed off to leave a netlike pattern on the surface. When mature it becomes brown, and a hole in the top opens to release spores in a burst when the body is compressed by touch or falling raindrops. The puffball grows in fields, gardens, and along roadsides, as well as in grassy clearings in woods. It is edible when young and the internal flesh is completely white, although care must be taken to avoid confusion with immature fruit bodies of poisonous Amanita species. L. perlatum can usually be distinguished from other similar puffballs by differences in surface texture. Several chemical compounds have been isolated and identified from the fruit bodies of L. perlatum, including sterol derivatives, volatile compounds that give the puffball its flavor and odor, and the unusual amino acid lycoperdic acid. Laboratory tests indicate that extracts of the puffball have antimicrobial and antifungal activities. A saprobic species, Lycoperdon perlatum grows solitarily, scattered, or in groups or clusters on the ground. It can also grow in fairy rings.[12] Typical habitats include woods, grassy areas, and along roads.[11] It has been reported from Pinus patula plantations in Tamil Nadu, India.[19] The puffball sometimes confuses golfers because of its resemblance to a golf ball when viewed from a distance.[12] A widespread species with an almost cosmopolitan distribution,[15] it has been reported from Africa (Kenya, Rwanda,[35] Tanzania[36]), Asia (China,[37] Himalayas,[38] Japan,[39] southern India[19]), Australia,[12] Europe,[40] New Zealand,[41] and South America (Brazil).[42] It has been collected from subarctic areas of Greenland, and subalpine regions in Iceland.[43] In North America, where it is considered the most common puffball species, it ranges from Alaska[44] to Mexico,[45] although it is less common in Central America.[46] The species is popular on postage stamps, and has been depicted on stamps from Guinea, Paraguay, Romania, Sierra Leone, and Sweden.[47] The puffball bioaccumulates heavy metals present in the soil,[48][49] and can be used as a bioindicator of soil pollution by heavy metals and selenium.[50] In one 1977 study, samples collected from grassy areas near the side of an interstate highway in Connecticut were shown to have high concentrations of cadmium and lead.[51] L. perlatum biomass has been shown experimentally to remove mercury ions from aqueous solutions, and is being investigated for potential use as a low-cost, renewable, biosorptive material in the treatment of water and wastewater containing mercury.[52]

Notes:

spotted in the forest in the north limit of the weet meadow near my house