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Desert Mushroom/Black Powderpuff

Podaxis pistillaris

Description:

about 10 cm in height, 5 cm in diameter; "On the ground. A common and persistent fungus in arid and semi-arid areas. This club-shaped puffball consists of a papery, elongated cap on a rigid, woody stem. The cap is white with shaggy scales, often with patches of brown and black. At maturity it splits and falls away to expose a brown-black spore mass." ~fungimap.org.au

Habitat:

desert mountain plain in St. Katherine's Protectorate after a relatively rainy winter

Notes:

called in Arabic by the Bedouin "hyena's fart"

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4 Comments

Bernadette S
Bernadette S 10 years ago

Oh, yes, I love that name, too! So called because these mushrooms seem to come out of nowhere...like the hyenas (used to) do.

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 10 years ago

I like the Bedouin name best of all. An interesting species. Well spotted, Bernadette.

Bernadette S
Bernadette S 10 years ago

Thanks, CorduneanuVlad! Confirmed that species in Egypt so will go with that ID for now.

CorduneanuVlad
CorduneanuVlad 10 years ago

Have a look at Podaxis pistillaris ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podaxis_pis... )

Bernadette S
Spotted by
Bernadette S

جنوب سيناء, Egypt

Spotted on Apr 26, 2014
Submitted on Apr 29, 2014

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