210 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



remaining species it opens by a distinct perforation at the apex, and 

 the remainder of the wall is more or less pliant and membranous. 

 All of the puff-balls are said to be edible, at least are harmless, if 

 eaten when the flesh is white. They should not be eaten when the 

 flesh is dark, or is changing from the white color. 



Lycoperdon giganteum Batsch. Edible. — This, the giant puff-ball, is 

 the largest species of the genus. Sometimes it reaches immense 

 proportions, two to three or even four feet, but these large sizes are 

 rare. It is usually 20 to 40 cm. (8-16 in.) in diameter. It grows 

 on the ground in grassy places during late summer and in the autumn. 

 It is a large rounded mass, resting on the ground, and near or at the 

 center of the under side, it is attached to the cords of mycelium in the 

 ground, it is white in color until it is ripe, that is, when the spores 

 are mature, and it should be gathered for food before it is thus ripe. 

 When it is maturing it becomes yellowish, then dusky or smoky in 

 color. The flesh, which is white when young, changes to greenish 

 yellow and finally brownish, with usually an olivaceous tinge, as 

 the spores ripen. 



The plant is so large that it may be sliced, and should be sliced 

 before broiling. A single specimen often forms enough for a meal 

 for a large family, and some of the larger ones would serve for sev- 

 eral meals. 



Lycoperdon cyathiforme Bosc. Edible. — This is called the beaker- 

 shaped puff-ball because the base of the plant, after the spores have 

 all been scattered, resembles to some extent a beaker, or a broad 

 cup with a stout, stem-like base. These old sterile bases of the plant 

 are often found in the fields long after the spores have disappeared. 

 The plants are somewhat pear-shaped, rounded above, and tapering 

 below to the stout base. They are 7-15 cm. in diameter, and white 

 when young. At maturity the spore mass is purplish, and by this 

 color as well as by the sterile base the plant is easily recognized. 

 Of course these characters cannot be recognized in the young and 

 growing plant at the time it is wanted for food, but the white color 

 of the interior of the plant would be a sufficient guarantee that it was 

 edible, granted of course that it was a member of the puff-ball family. 

 Sometimes, long before the spores mature, the outer portion of the 

 plant changes from white to pinkish, or brownish colors. At maturity 

 the wall, or peridium, breaks into brittle fragments, which disappear 

 and the purplish mass of the spores is exposed. The plant grows in 

 grassy places or even in cultivated fields. 



Lycoperdon gemmalum Batsch. Edible.— This puff-ball is widely dis- 

 tributed throughout the world and is very common. It grows in the 



