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Common Earthball

Scleroderma citrinum

Description:

Common Earthball, aka Pigskin Poison Puffball. Cream to yellow in colour, and leathery appearance with very fine scales. No stems, but attached to the soil by mycelial cord. Growing amongst leaf litter on sandy soil. Largest specimen no bigger than a chicken egg. This small cluster only specimen found. Earthballs are superficially similar to, and considered look-alikes, of the edible puffball, but whereas the Puffball has a single opening on top through which the spores are dispersed, the Earthball just breaks up to release the spores.

Habitat:

Native bushland in the Mt. Coot-tha Forest Reserve. Spotted on the Stringybark Track. Area dry and trees native eucalypts.

Notes:

Synonyms also used for this species are S. aurantium and S. vulgare.

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4 Comments

CorduneanuVlad
CorduneanuVlad 9 years ago

That's why I said "looks like" EduHerNav. When I'm sure of the type of the unidentified musshom I leave a suggestion, when not, I leave a comment ;)

EduHerNav
EduHerNav 9 years ago

You can't say such a thing without the spores...

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 9 years ago

Ah, thank you. Your help is always appreciated, Vlad.

CorduneanuVlad
CorduneanuVlad 9 years ago

Yep, looks like the Common Earthball (Sleroderma Citrinum).

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleroderma...

Neil Ross
Spotted by
Neil Ross

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Spotted on Apr 6, 2014
Submitted on Apr 23, 2014

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Scleroderma sp. Scleroderma sp. Scleroderma citrinum Common Earthball, False Puffball  Scleroderma citrinum

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