puffball
Puffballs are a type of fungus featuring a ball-shaped fruit body that bursts on impact, releasing a cloud of dust-like spores when mature. Puffballs belong to the division Basidiomycota and encompass several genera, including ''Calvatia'', ''Ca ...
in the family
Agaricaceae
The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae.
Taxonomy
The family Agaricaceae was publishe ...
. It is generally found in the coastal regions of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, but was reported from Korea in 2015. This fungus is often confused with '' Bovista dermoxantha'', because of its similar peridium, and ''
''. The surest way to tell the species apart is to examine the spores and exoperidium, respectively, with a microscope.
Description
The
fruit body
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the Ovary (plants), ovary after flowering plant, flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their ...
is 1.5–3.0 cm broad and varies in shape from spherical to pulvinate (cushion-shaped). It is attached to the substrate by dense masses of
hypha
A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium.
Structure
A hypha consists of one or ...
e. At first, the
exoperidium
The peridium is the protective layer that encloses a mass of spores in fungi. This outer covering is a distinctive feature of gasteroid fungi.
Description
Depending on the species, the peridium may vary from being paper-thin to thick and rubber ...
is white; originally covered in dense filaments, it breaks up into
buff
Buff or BUFF may refer to:
People
* Buff (surname), a list of people
* Buff (nickname), a list of people
* Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955)
* Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional wr ...
, fine
wart
Warts are typically small, rough, hard growths that are similar in color to the rest of the skin. They typically do not result in other symptoms, except when on the bottom of the feet, where they may be painful. While they usually occur on the ...
s. With age, a brown, thin endoperidium becomes exposed underneath. The spores are released through a ragged pore at the top of the puffball. The
gleba
Gleba (, from Latin ''glaeba, glēba'', "lump") is the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of certain fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn.
The gleba is a solid mass of spores, generated within an enclosed area within the sporocarp. The continu ...
is soft, changing from white, to olive and eventually medium-brown.
The spherical, spores are 3.5–4.5
µm
The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...
in diameter and moderately thick-walled with smooth warts. In the center lies an oil droplet and a stub-like pedicel. In addition, there is a
capillitium
Capillitium (pl. capillitia) is a mass of sterile fibers within a fruit body interspersed among spores. It is found in Mycetozoa (slime molds) and gasteroid fungi of the fungal subdivision Agaricomycotina
The subdivision Agaricomycotina, also kn ...
from the central part of the gleba with numerous minute pits.
Habitat
''Bovista aestivalis'' is generally scattered and/or in small groups on edges of grassy areas along paths. They can also be found in coastal dunes among herbs and shrubs. When watered, they will fruit during the summer months and throughout the autumn and winter after periods of rain. Because of their small size, they are often inconspicuous; despite their edibility, they are often too small to be of value.
Taxonomy
The puffball was first described scientifically in 1851 by German mycologist
Hermann Friedrich Bonorden Hermann Friedrich Bonorden (28 August 1801 – 19 May 1884) was a German physician and mycologist. During his career he served as a ''Regimentarzt'' (regimental medical doctor) in Köln. Vincent Demoulin transferred it to the genus ''Bovista'' in 1979. Obsolete
synonyms
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
for ''Bovista aestivalis'' include ''Bovista cepiformis'' (Bull.) Massee, ''Globaria furfuraceum'' (Schaeff.) Quel. 1873, ''Lycoperdon aestivale'' Bonord. 1851, ''Lycoperdon cepiforme'' Bull. 1791, ''Lycoperdon ericetorum'' var. ''cepiforme'' (Bull.) Bowerman 1961, and ''Lycoperdon furfuraceum'' Schaeff. 1770.Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K. The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
, ''aestivalis'', is derived from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...