Its large size, white color and smoothish surface are characters, 
by which it may easily be distinguished from every other species. 
The Cup-shaped puff-ball, Lycoperdon cyathiforme, is much 
smaller and much more frequent. It is commonly three to five, 
inches in diameter. It is most often abruptly contracted below. 
into a thick basal part, which 
gives it a somewhat turbinate 
shape, but this is not always 
the case. Its color is some- 
what variable, ranging from MM] 
grayish-white to brown or} 
pinkish-brown. Its surface is 
smooth, or nearly so, but it S/gm¥ 
usually cracks in an areolate 
manner, so that the upper 
half especially presents a sys- 
tem of reticulating chinks en- 
closing small, more or less an- 
gular, darker areas or patches. 
When mature, the dusty 
spore mass of the interior pre- Cypstaney rutnu, Lgcopernn puniorne 
sents a purple-brown color. 
After the upper part of the rind has fallen away, and the spores 
have been dispersed, there remains the basal part of the plant, 
which is surmounted by the concave or cup-shaped lower portion 
of the rind. This condition of the plant was the basis for the 
original description of the species and suggested the name of this 
puff-ball. 
Its place of growth is in fields and pastures, and its range ex- 
tends westward to the Missis- 
sippi River, and south to 
South Carolina. It appears 
in August and September, 
growing singly or in groups 
of several individuals. Some- 
times the old flattened cup- 
shape base persists till the 
following spring. It differs 
from the Giant puff-ball in 
its smaller Size, chinky BreO: Lycoperdon cpathitorna Cip-Gliaped Base 
late surface, darker color, and of an old plant, about half usual size. 
when mature, in its purple , 
brown interior. Both species are equally good to eat, and both 
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