68 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



is tlie stalked piift-l:)all. This |)lant is distinguished l)y a gray 

 stalk a quarter of an inch in diameter and two or three inches 

 hio-h. At its top is develoi)cd a little fattened si)herical blad- 

 der, perforate in the middle, within which are innumerable 

 brown spores. If the skin is squeezed the s])ores puff out at 

 the top like so much brown smoke, hence the connnon name, 

 puff-ball, which is applied to this })lant and its relatives. 



Other puff-balls have not tlig. same slender stalk that has just 

 been described. Several kinds are more or less pear-shaped, 

 standing with the small end downward and variously marked 

 in the different species. One variety is nearly smooth while 

 another is covered with 

 tiny warts of different 

 sizes, sometimes arranged 

 in patterns over the sur- 

 face. In others the sur- 

 face is spiny and some- 

 times the spines occur in 

 little clusters, with their 

 tops drawn together like 

 the stems of corn when 

 in the shock. If one of 

 these puff-balls be cut 

 lengthwise it will l)e seen 

 that tlie lower part is 

 si)ongy in texture and 

 does not ])roduce spores, 

 so that this ixirlion may be regarded as a short, thick stem. 

 The upper portion, h()we\er, ])ro(luces an abundance of spores 

 \\hich are ejected through an apertiu'c in the ordinary manner. 



vSiill other puff-balls have no stalks, but the whole fruit-body 

 is a bladder fdled with sjiores and some of the commonest of 

 all Minnesota ])uff-balls belong to this dixi^ion. They are 

 foiuid abundantly in fields and pastures and. when rii)c. are tlat- 

 tencd dark purplish or ])lum-colored bodies from a (|narler of an 

 inch to an inch in diameler. The whole inside of one of these 

 fruits consists of a lluffy mass of spores and threads — the dried- 

 up stems upon which the s])ores develop. In the woods a stem- 

 less puff-ball is found of ;i lighter color, growing often as large 



Fltt. •„':!. Warty piifT-ball. A t'lcr I.loyd. 



