''Bovista nigrescens'', commonly referred to as the brown puffball or black bovist, is an

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

cream white or brown

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 ...

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

relationships between ''Bovista nigrescens'' and species of

Lycoperdaceae 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 ...

were established based on ITS and LSU sequence data from north European taxa.

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 ...

of ''Bovista nigrescens'' is 3–6 cm across. The roughly spherical fruit body is slightly pointed at the bottom. Although it lacks a sterile base, the fruit body is attached to the substrate by a single

mycelial cord Mycelial cords are linear aggregations of parallel-oriented hypha, hyphae. The mature cords are composed of wide, empty vessel hyphae surrounded by narrower sheathing hyphae. Cords may look similar to plant roots, and also frequently have similar f ...

which often breaks, leaving the fruit body free to roll about in the wind. The outer wall is white at first, but soon flakes off in large scales at maturity to expose the dark purple-brown to blackish inner wall that encloses the spore mass. These spores leave via an

apical pore A germ pore is a small pore in the outer wall of a fungal spore through which the germ tube exits upon germination. It can be apical or eccentric in its location, and, on light microscopy, may be visualized as a lighter coloured area on the cell ...

, which is caused by extensive splitting and cracking. 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 often dark purple-brown. The

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 ...

is highly branched with brown dendroid elements. Spores are brown and

ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

, with a diameter of 4.5–6

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 ...

. They are thick-walled, and nearly smooth, with a central

oil droplet Oil droplets are found in the eyes of some animals, being located in the photoreceptor cells. They are especially common in the eyes of diurnal (active during the day) reptiles (e.g. lizards, turtles) and birds (see bird vision), though are pres ...

, and a long, warted pedicel.

Habitat and distribution

''Bovista nigrescens'' puffballs are often found in grass and pastureland. Although they are found most abundantly in late summer to autumn, they persist in old dried condition for many months. They are uncommon in most areas, but frequent in North and West Europe. They are edible when young. In addition, they are found on the ground, fields, lawns or on roadsides. Typically, they may be found at an altitude of up to 2,500 meters (8,202 feet).Synopsis of the British Basidiomycetes; a descriptive catalogue of the drawings and specimens in the Department of Botany, British Museum / by

Worthington George Smith Worthington George Smith (25 March 1835 – 27 October 1917) was an English cartoonist and illustrator, archaeologist, plant pathologist, and mycologist. Background and career Worthington G. Smith was born in Shoreditch, London, the son of a civ ...

, F.L.S. London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, 1908, og. 476.

References

Agaricaceae Fungi of Europe Edible fungi Puffballs Fungi described in 1794 {{agaricaceae-stub