Scleroderma areolatum

 Scleroderma areolatum is a basidiomycete fungus and a member of the genus Scleroderma, or "earth balls."

Scleroderma areolatum
Scleroderma areolatum.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Boletales
Family:
Sclerodermataceae
Genus:
Scleroderma
Species:
S. areolatum
Binomial name
Scleroderma areolatum
Ehrenb.
Scleroderma areolatum
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Mycological characteristics
glebal hymenium
no distinct cap
hymenium attachment is not applicable
lacks a stipe
spore print is purple-black to olive
ecology is mycorrhizal
edibility: inedible

Like most members of SclerodermaS. areolatum resembles but is only distantly related to the giant puffball. It can be distinguished from the giant puffball by cutting it in half; the puffball will have a solid, denser middle, with no signs of a developing cap mushroom. They are usually 1–5 cm in diameter, and grow individually or in small groups.[1] They are commonly found in deciduous forests, in neutral soil. They are poisonous,[2] and ingestion can lead to vomitingdiarrhea, and in larger quantities, fainting.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article
 Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the 
Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
.