Puffballs 



Cup-shaped Puffball (Edible) 



Calvatia cyathiformis 



Peridium — Large, top-shaped. 



Bark or Outer Coat — Thin, adherent, smooth, and continuous, 

 easily peeling off. 



Imier Coat — Pale to dark purple, loosely woven, fragile at matur- 

 ity, breaking up into fragments from above downward. 



Subglcba — Short and thick, with cord-like root, persistent, cup- 

 shaped, occupying Vi-y'2. the peridium. 



Spores and Threads — Violet to dark purple. Spores globose and 

 warted, threads long. 



Time — August to October. 



Habitat — On the ground in meadows and pastures. 



The old name was Lycoperdon cyathiforme. Cyathiforme, 

 meaning cup-shaped, is suggested by the cup-like base which 

 remains after the dispersion of the spores and threads (capillitium). 



GENUS BOVISTA 



In the genus Bovista the rind or peridium opens by an apical 

 mouth, as do the species of Lycoperdon, but the species of 



Bovista have no 



sterile base. 



They are puff- 

 balls of small 



size, growing 



in fields and 



woods. The 



outer coat is 



thin and fragile, 



and scales off 



at maturity. The inner coat is thin, becoming papery, and 

 then opens by an apical mouth. 



Bovista plumbea is esteemed a delicacy. It is shaped like a 

 flattened globe, with a smooth, white inner coat, and a lead- 

 coloured outer coat opening by an apical mouth. 



Bovista 



Section of Bovista 

 (diagrammatic) 



Cy-ath-t-for'-mts 



Bo-vls'-ta 

 128 



Plum'-be-a 



