View A43-1112-1979-eng.pdf

GASTEROMYCETES
Some people have the idea that these large puffballs appear very suddenly,
but actually they grow and increase in size over a period of nearly two weeks
before they reach maturity. Observations published by Peck (1912) indicate
that their period of development is about 12-14 days and that the daily in-
crease in circumference is about 3-4 inches.
Nearly every year reports are published concerning the finding of large
puffballs with competing claims as to record size. Most of these, however, are
far short of any real record. Giissow and Odell (1927) report a specimen 5 feet
1 54 inches in circumference and weighing 18J^ pounds but this is dwarfed by a
report from New York State in 1877 mentioned by Ramsbottom (1953) of a
specimen 5 feet 4 inches long, 4 feet 6 inches wide and 9)/2 inches high. It was
said to have been mistaken for a sheep at a distance. The largest specimen ever
collected by the author was 4 feet in circumference and weighed 1 1 pounds.
BuUer calculated that a fruit body 16 X 12 X 10 inches would produce
7 trillion spores and Ramsbottom noted that if each of these produced one
puffball of similar size and if their spores were equally successful, the resulting
mass would be 800 times the weight of the earth. It is an amazing example of
the reproductive potential of a Hving organism and it is obvious that under
natural conditions the chances of a puffball spore for survival must be ex-
tremely shght indeed.
Two other species of Cahatia that are fairly common but do not attain
the size of C. gigantea are C cyathiformis (Bosc) Morgan and C. craniiformis
(Schw.) Fr. Both of these have a rather thick, stout basal part that is somewhat
pear-shaped to top-shaped and may sometimes be found persisting after
all the spores have been dispersed. C cyathiformis can be distinguished by the
purplish spore mass whereas in C. craniiformis it is olivaceous brown to dark
brown. All of these species are edible when young.
BOVISTA PILA Berk. & Curt. Edible
Figures 401, 402, 403, page 291
FRUITING BODY 1 1/2-2 Yi in. in diameter, usually globose or nearly so,
attached by a small rhizomorph which breaks easily, at first white with a thin
furfuraceous outer coat that soon wears off, exposing the smooth, somewhat
papery, gray-brown to bronze, inner coat, which often has a somewhat metaUic
luster, at first white within, then becoming purplish brown and powdery.
SPORES dark brown, globose, smooth, sometimes with a short pedicel 3.5-4.5 /x.
Solitary or gregarious in woods or pastures. Aug.-Oct.
The fruiting bodies frequently come loose from their attachment. They
often persist through the winter and are found the following spring full of
spores.
B. plumbea Pers. is a somewhat smaller species, attached to the ground by
a mass of fibers rather than a rhizomorph, and with a more blue-gray inner
coat. The spores are larger, more ovoid, and have very long pedicels.
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